GigaScience Press

GigaScience Press is a Hong Kong-based scientific publishing operation associated with BGI Group. It publishes open-access research journals and operates a research-data platform, with an emphasis on making scientific outputs more reproducible, reusable, and technically transparent. Its principal publications and services include GigaScience, GigaByte, and GigaDB. The operation has developed a publishing model that combines conventional scholarly articles with structured data deposition, software availability, computational workflows, and forms of transparent or open peer review. The press emerged from BGI's broader involvement in genomics, bioinformatics, and large-scale biological data production. BGI launched the journal GigaScience in 2012 in partnership with BioMed Central, reflecting the rapid growth of data-intensive life-science research and the need for journals able to evaluate datasets, code, and computational methods alongside narrative findings. GigaScience subsequently became co-published with Oxford University Press from 2017. GigaScience Press also developed GigaDB, a data-publishing and data-discovery platform intended to provide persistent access to the datasets underlying research papers. GigaByte later expanded the portfolio toward rapid, data-rich research communication. The press positions itself around open science rather than conventional selective journal publishing alone. Its stated publishing practices have included data publication, reproducibility-oriented review, transparent peer review, and experiments with new ways of connecting articles to the underlying data and software. This approach is particularly relevant to genomics, transcriptomics, bioinformatics, systems biology, and other fields in which research conclusions depend on large datasets and complex computational pipelines. GigaScience Press has received industry recognition for these practices. Its journals won the Association of American Publishers' PROSE Award for innovation in journal publishing in 2018 and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers Award for Innovation in Publishing in 2022. In 2025, the press was among the recipients of an early Crossref Excellence in Metadata award, recognizing the quality of its bibliographic and linking metadata. The press's institutional identity is closely connected to BGI. That relationship gives it access to a major genomics research environment, but it also places the publishing operation within the wider scrutiny directed at BGI over data governance, alleged links to Chinese state and military institutions, and the use of genetic information. Those broader controversies do not by themselves establish misconduct by GigaScience Press, but they form part of the context in which the independence, governance, and international credibility of the publishing operation are assessed. In 2025, major organizational changes reportedly affected the press's international editorial, software, and GigaDB teams. BGI chief scientist Xu Xun was reported to have assumed the publisher and editor-in-chief roles. In November of that year, most of the editorial board reportedly resigned, citing a lack of consultation and concerns about how the changes could affect the journals' long-standing commitments to rigorous review and reproducible research. These developments represent an important governance turning point for the brand, although the long-term effect on its journals and data services remains to be established.

GigaScience Press developed from BGI Group's work in genomics and computational biology, fields in which research increasingly depends on large datasets, specialized software, and complex analysis pipelines. The publishing operation was created to address the difficulty of communicating and reviewing such work through conventional article formats alone. Its central idea was that a research paper should be connected as directly as possible to the data, code, and computational procedures needed to evaluate or reproduce its findings. In 2012, BGI launched the journal GigaScience in partnership with BioMed Central. The journal was designed for data-rich life-science research and promoted the publication of substantial datasets and computational resources alongside conventional scientific findings. This model reflected BGI's own activities in genome sequencing, bioinformatics, biodiversity studies, and other large-scale biological projects. Rather than treating data merely as supplementary material, the journal and its associated services sought to give datasets a more visible and persistent role in the scholarly record. A major component of the publishing model was GigaDB, a platform for publishing and exposing research datasets associated with scientific studies. The platform helped connect articles with machine-readable or downloadable data and supported the broader objective of making research outputs reusable. GigaScience Press also experimented with transparent peer review and other forms of open publishing intended to make the evaluation process more visible and to encourage better reporting of methods and computational workflows. From 2017, GigaScience was co-published with Oxford University Press. The relationship gave the journal access to the infrastructure and publishing experience of a major university press while retaining its specialization in data-intensive life sciences. GigaScience Press later expanded its portfolio with GigaByte, a further open-access journal, while continuing to develop GigaDB and related data-publishing practices. The press's approach received external recognition. Its journals won the Association of American Publishers' PROSE Award for Innovation in journal publishing in 2018. In 2022, the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers gave the press an Award for Innovation in Publishing. In 2025, GigaScience Press was reported to have received one of the first Crossref Excellence in Metadata awards, highlighting the quality and usefulness of its metadata practices. The relationship with BGI has also created institutional and reputational complexity. BGI has faced international allegations concerning genetic-data governance, cooperation with Chinese military or security bodies, and genetic testing in Xinjiang. The United States placed certain BGI subsidiaries on its Entity List in 2020 and added further BGI entities in 2023. These measures concerned the wider BGI organization rather than establishing a specific finding against GigaScience Press, but they provide important context for questions about institutional independence, editorial governance, and international partnerships. The press reportedly underwent significant organizational change in 2025. The international Editorial, Software, and GigaDB teams were removed, and BGI chief scientist Xu Xun was reported to have taken on the publisher and editor-in-chief positions. In November 2025, most of the editorial board reportedly resigned. The resignations were attributed to concerns about the lack of consultation and the possible effect of the restructuring on rigorous peer review and reproducible research. The event is a significant recent development in the history of the brand, but the available material does not establish the eventual operating structure or editorial performance of the journals after the reported changes.

• 2025

  Crossref metadata recognition

  [2]BGI Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The press was reported to have received an early Crossref Excellence in Metadata award for the quality of its scholarly metadata.

• 2025

  Reported editorial restructuring

  [2]BGI Groupen.wikipedia.org

  Reports described the removal of international editorial, software, and GigaDB teams and the appointment of Xu Xun as publisher and editor-in-chief.

• 2025

  Editorial board resignations

  [2]BGI Groupen.wikipedia.org

  Most of the editorial board reportedly resigned amid concerns about consultation, editorial independence, and the future of reproducibility standards.

• 2022

  ALPSP publishing innovation award

  [2]BGI Groupen.wikipedia.org

  GigaScience Press received the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers Award for Innovation in Publishing.

• 2018

  PROSE Award recognition

  [2]BGI Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The press's journals received an Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for innovation in journal publishing.

• 2017

  Oxford University Press co-publishing begins

  [2]BGI Groupen.wikipedia.org

  GigaScience began being co-published with Oxford University Press, expanding the journal's publishing infrastructure and international reach.

• 2012

  Launch of GigaScience

  [2]BGI Groupen.wikipedia.org

  BGI launched the GigaScience journal in partnership with BioMed Central to publish data-intensive life-science research and connect articles with underlying research outputs.

An open-science publisher focused on data-intensive life sciences, reproducibility, transparent peer review, and linking scholarly articles with research data and software.

• Open-access scientific journal · 2012

  GigaScience

  GigaScience is the press's principal open-access journal for data-intensive research in genomics, bioinformatics, computational biology, and related life sciences. Its publishing model emphasizes the availability of underlying datasets, software, and analytical workflows, allowing readers and reviewers to examine and reuse the materials supporting reported conclusions. The journal has been co-published with Oxford University Press since 2017.

• Open-access scientific journal

  GigaByte

  GigaByte is an open-access journal in the GigaScience Press portfolio. It extends the press's focus on rapid, data-rich communication and research outputs that may include datasets, software, protocols, and computational resources. The available reference material identifies it as one of the press's principal journals but does not provide a complete account of its launch date, editorial scope, or current publication volume.

• Research-data publishing platform

  GigaDB

  GigaDB is a data-publishing and discovery platform associated with GigaScience Press. It is intended to make datasets connected to scientific publications more accessible, persistent, and reusable. The platform supports the press's broader open-science objective of treating data and computational resources as first-class research outputs rather than inaccessible supplementary files.

• 2025

  Editorial governance controversy

  A reported restructuring removed international Editorial, Software, and GigaDB teams and placed publisher and editor-in-chief responsibilities with BGI chief scientist Xu Xun. Most of the editorial board then reportedly resigned, citing inadequate consultation and concerns about the possible effect on rigorous peer review and reproducibility. The available material does not establish that the journals violated editorial standards, but the episode raised questions about governance and editorial independence.

  Source

Read more

• 2025

  Restructure international publishing teamsStrategy

  Background

  The press underwent an organizational change affecting its international editorial, software, and GigaDB functions.

  Action taken

  The teams were reportedly removed, and Xu Xun was reported to have assumed publisher and editor-in-chief responsibilities.

  Aftermath

  Most of the editorial board reportedly resigned, raising concerns about consultation, governance, and the continuation of the press's open-science commitments.

  Source

• 2017

  Enter a co-publishing relationship with Oxford University PressStrategy

  Background

  GigaScience sought to combine its specialized open-data model with the infrastructure and international publishing capabilities of an established university press.

  Action taken

  GigaScience began being co-published with Oxford University Press.

  Aftermath

  The journal continued operating as an international open-access publication within a broader academic-publishing partnership.

  Source

• 2012

  Create a data-intensive open-science journalStrategy

  Background

  Genomics and computational biology were producing datasets and software that were difficult to represent through conventional article formats.

  Action taken

  BGI launched GigaScience with a model that connected scientific articles to datasets and emphasized reproducibility.

  Aftermath

  The initiative became the foundation of GigaScience Press's journal and data-platform portfolio.

  Source

1. 1GigaScience Pressgigasciencepress.com
2. 2BGI Groupen.wikipedia.org