Journal Guide
PLOS ONE Impact Factor 2.6: Publishing Guide
The world's largest journal reviews for rigor, not novelty. Here's why that matters and how to get in.
2.6
Impact Factor (2024)
~31%
Acceptance Rate
40 days median to first decision
Time to First Decision
What PLOS ONE Publishes
PLOS ONE publishes original research from any discipline in the natural sciences, medical research, engineering, and related social sciences. The key difference from every other journal on this list: editors evaluate your work based on scientific rigor and methodological soundness, not on perceived novelty or impact. If the science is solid, it gets published. The community decides importance after publication through citations, downloads, and discussion.
- Original research across all natural sciences, medicine, and engineering
- Methodologically sound work regardless of perceived novelty or impact
- Negative and null results (yes, they publish these on purpose)
- Systematic reviews with rigorous methodology
- Methods papers, software tools, and database descriptions
- Registered Reports and study protocols
- Qualitative research that follows appropriate reporting guidelines
- Replication studies with proper justification
Editor Insight
“PLOS ONE is built on a simple but radical idea: the scientific community, not journal editors, should decide what research matters. If your methods are solid and your conclusions match your data, your work deserves to be published and read. This model works best for researchers who have done careful, honest science but whose findings might be considered 'incremental' or 'niche' by traditional selective journals. It's also the right home for negative results, replication studies, and methods papers that other journals overlook. Don't think of PLOS ONE as where you go when you can't get in elsewhere. Think of it as where you go when you want your science judged on its merits.”
What PLOS ONE Editors Look For
Methodological rigor above all else
This is the entire editorial philosophy. Your experiments need proper controls, adequate sample sizes, appropriate statistics, and sufficient detail for replication. They don't care if your findings are 'exciting.' They care if your methods are sound.
Conclusions that match the data
Overstating your findings is the fastest way to get rejected at PLOS ONE. If your data shows a modest effect, don't claim you've solved the problem. Conclusions must be directly supported by the results you present.
Reproducible methods
Another researcher should be able to reproduce your study from what you've written. Vague methods sections ('cells were treated as previously described') won't pass review. Detail matters here.
Data availability
PLOS ONE requires a data availability statement and expects data to be shared in public repositories. This isn't optional. If you can't share data, you need documented reasons.
Ethical compliance with no shortcuts
Ethics approvals, informed consent, IACUC for animal work, biosafety considerations. PLOS ONE is strict about these. Incomplete ethical documentation gets flagged in initial checks.
Clear, competent English
PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts. Your submitted text is essentially what gets published. If the language is unclear or contains errors, they may reject on that basis alone.
Why Papers Get Rejected
These patterns appear repeatedly in manuscripts that don't make it past PLOS ONE's editorial review:
Overclaiming results
The most common rejection reason at PLOS ONE. Reviewers are specifically asked whether conclusions match the data. Claiming your pilot study 'demonstrates' something when it really 'suggests' it will get you a rejection or major revision.
Treating it as a 'backup journal'
Submitting a hastily reformatted manuscript rejected from a high-impact journal, complete with inflated framing that doesn't match the PLOS ONE model. Reframe your work honestly. PLOS ONE reviews for rigor, not glamour, so drop the hype.
Insufficient methodological detail
At PLOS ONE, methods are the main event. Skimpy methods sections that work at specialty journals (where readers share background knowledge) won't pass here. Write methods as if the reader is starting from scratch.
Missing or weak data availability
PLOS ONE has mandatory data sharing requirements. 'Data available on request' is not acceptable. Data must be in a public repository or included as supporting information, with very few exceptions.
Poor English that wasn't edited before submission
Since PLOS ONE doesn't copyedit, unclear language is grounds for rejection. If English isn't your first language, get professional editing before you submit. This is explicitly stated in their criteria.
Submitting article types they don't accept
PLOS ONE does not publish reviews, case reports, hypothesis papers, opinion pieces, or commentaries. People submit these regularly and get immediate desk rejections. Read the criteria for publication page.
Does your manuscript avoid these patterns?
The quick diagnostic reads your full manuscript against PLOS ONE's criteria and flags the specific issues most likely to cause rejection.
Insider Tips from PLOS ONE Authors
The Academic Editor model means your paper's fate depends heavily on who handles it
PLOS ONE has over 6,000 Academic Editors (working scientists, not staff). Your paper gets assigned to one with relevant expertise. They pick reviewers and make the final call. This means the quality and speed of review can vary significantly depending on which editor gets your paper.
Suggest an Academic Editor in your cover letter
PLOS ONE lets you suggest (and exclude) specific Academic Editors. Browse the editorial board for someone in your area. A good match means faster, fairer handling. This is an underused feature.
Negative results are genuinely welcome here
Most journals say they accept negative results but reject them anyway. PLOS ONE actually publishes them. If you ran a well-designed study and found no effect, this is one of the few places that will take it seriously. This matters for the scientific record.
The APC has fee waivers, and they're real
At $1,931 per article, the fee is significant. But PLOS has a Research4Life program (free for authors in Group A countries) and a Publication Fee Assistance program. Apply at submission time, not after acceptance. The editorial decision is kept completely separate from fee considerations.
Don't confuse 'rigor-based review' with 'easy to publish'
A 31% acceptance rate means most papers still get rejected. The bar for methodological soundness is genuinely high. Sloppy statistics, underpowered studies, and missing controls get caught. The difference is that a well-executed study on an 'boring' topic can get in.
Use the PLOS transfer system if rejected from a PLOS specialty journal
If your paper is rejected from PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine, or another PLOS journal, you can transfer it to PLOS ONE with reviewer reports intact. This saves time and avoids re-review from scratch. The editors will consider the existing reviews.
Peer review history can be published alongside your paper
PLOS ONE offers opt-in publication of the full peer review record. If your reviews were thorough and you responded well, this adds credibility. It's a transparency signal that some funders and readers value.
Registered Reports get a lower APC
The APC for a Registered Report Protocol is $1,852, and the final Registered Report Article is only $1,088. If you're planning a study where pre-registration makes sense, this path saves money and strengthens your methodology.
The PLOS ONE Submission Process
Initial quality checks (staff)
Usually within 1-2 weeksPLOS ONE staff check for competing interests, ethical compliance, data availability, financial disclosures, and formatting. Incomplete submissions get sent back at this stage.
Academic Editor assignment
1-2 weeks after passing initial checksYour paper is assigned to an Academic Editor with relevant expertise, either from the 6,000+ editorial board or a Guest Editor. You can suggest editors in your cover letter.
Editorial review and peer review decision
Variable; depends on editor availabilityThe Academic Editor reads the paper and decides whether to send it for external review, request revision, or reject. Most papers go to external review.
Peer review
3-6 weeks for reviews to come inSingle-anonymized review (reviewers are anonymous, authors are not). Typically 2-3 reviewers. Reviewers have 10 days to submit, though delays are common. Reviewers assess rigor, not novelty.
Decision
40 days median total to first decisionAcademic Editor issues accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject based on reviews and their own assessment. Revision requests give you 45 days to resubmit.
Acceptance and production
213 days median from submission to publicationTwo-stage acceptance: editorial accept (scientific approval), then formal accept after final formatting checks. No copyediting provided by the journal.
PLOS ONE by the Numbers
| 2024 Impact Factor(Down from peak of 4.4 in 2010) | 2.6 |
| Articles published (2024) | 16,621 |
| Acceptance rate (2024)(Down from ~50% in 2021) | ~31% |
| Time to first decision | 40 days median |
| Time to publication | 213 days median |
| Total citations (2024) | 1,034,788 |
| Total articles published (all time) | 200,000+ |
| Article processing charge(Fee waivers available) | $1,931 |
Before you submit
PLOS ONE accepts a small fraction of submissions. Make your attempt count.
The pre-submission diagnostic runs a live literature search, scores your manuscript section by section, and gives you a prioritized fix list calibrated to PLOS ONE. ~30 minutes.
Article Types
Research Article
No limit (but conciseness encouraged)Original research in any discipline. The core article type. Must present new data, rigorous methods, and supported conclusions.
Registered Report
No limitPre-registered studies where the protocol is peer-reviewed before data collection. Both the Protocol and the completed Article are published.
Systematic Review
No limitthorough, unbiased synthesis of existing literature following established reporting guidelines like PRISMA.
Methods/Software/Database
No limitPapers describing new methods, software tools, or databases. Must follow appropriate reporting guidelines.
Study Protocol
No limitDetailed protocols for planned studies, allowing community feedback before execution.
Lab Protocol
No limitDetailed laboratory methods designed for direct replication by other researchers.
Landmark PLOS ONE Papers
Papers that defined fields and changed science:
- Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea (Eriksen et al., 2014)
- Gut Microbiota in Human Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Differs from Non-Diabetic Adults (Larsen et al., 2010)
- FastTree 2: Approximately Maximum-Likelihood Trees for Large Alignments (Price et al., 2010, 1,300+ citations)
- The Human Serum Metabolome (Psychogios et al., 2011)
- Global patterns of terrestrial assemblage turnover within and among land uses (Newbold et al., 2016)
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Primary Fields
Related Journal Guides
- Publishing in Nature
- Publishing in Nature Communications
- Publishing in eLife
- Publishing in Scientific Reports
- Publishing in BMC Medicine
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- eLife vs PLOS ONE: Which Should You Choose in 2026?
- PLOS ONE Acceptance Rate: What 31% Actually Means for Your Submission
- PLOS ONE Submission Process: Review Time, Acceptance Rate & What Reviewers Check
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