Royal Society Open Biology Open Questions competition

Since its launch in 2011, Royal Society’s Open Biology has been at the forefront of publishing high-quality, open access research in cell and molecular biology. As the Royal Society’s first fully open access journal, it has built a reputation for rapid, rigorous peer review and a strong commitment to advancing open science.

The journal's Open Questions collection reflects this mission by inviting researchers to highlight key unsolved problems in biology. These short, forward-looking Open Questions articles aim to spark discussion, shape new approaches, and inspire the next wave of discoveries.

The Royal Society Open Biology Open Questions competition was launched in 2024 to invite submissions of our Open Questions article type, a short-format piece that presents a current, significant question across cell and molecular biology, ripe for further investigation. With a chance to win a cash prize of £1,000 and a full Article Processing Charge (APC) waiver, this is an opportunity to make your voice heard while contributing to the ongoing conversation around cutting-edge research.

Martha Cyert, Stanford University: “I encourage you all to submit articles for Open Questions. You know what the burning questions are, where the frontier of knowledge is in that area, and this is a chance, really to tell others more broadly what is so exciting and so ripe for discovery right now in your area. By making your articles accessible to a broad audience- including students, recent PhDs, and funders like philanthropists and the NIH - as an educational initiative, you can inspire others to engage with your field. We look forward to seeing everyone's submissions!”

The 2025 competition is now open for entries

The 2025 competition is now open, and entries close on Tuesday 6 January 2026. For more information, take a look at the terms and conditions. If you have any questions, please contact the editorial office at any time.

2024 Prize

The competition saw fantastic entries for the 2024 prize. You can see all of these excellent published entries on this special collection page.

2024 Winner

We are excited to announce that the winner of the 2024 competition is Frank Britto Bisso and colleagues for the research article Pattern recognition in living cells through the lens of machine learning.

Frank Britto Bisso, PhD Student at Carnegie Mellon University. Photo credit: PUCP-UPCH

Some Open Questions highlights

• Relationship troubles at the mitochondrial level and what it might mean for human disease
• How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective
• How does the GLP-1/GLP-1R axis link metabolism, immunity, and even circadian rhythms?