Author Interview: Dr. Zhen Geng

Event Introduction 

Since its founding in 2016, Bioactive Materials (BAM) has emerged as a leading international platform in materials science and biomedicine. Over the past decade, the journal has achieved remarkable growth, with its impact factor rising from 8.724 (2019) to 20.3 (2024). It has also been listed as a top-tier journal in the Chinese Academy of Sciences Journal Classification (Q1) and the T1 category of the High-Quality Scientific Journal Grading Catalog for materials science for five years (2020–2025). None of this would have been possible without the trust and contributions of our global authors, whose innovative research has shaped BAM’s success. 

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we launch the **Author Interviews** series, featuring distinguished contributors who have grown alongside BAM—including early-stage submitters, highly cited scholars, and rising scientists. Through their stories, we will explore their journeys with BAM: from the excitement of first submissions to the impact of published research, from upholding research integrity to navigating academic influence, and their visions for the field’s future. These conversations aim to provide practical insights for emerging researchers and express our deepest gratitude to all authors who have been part of our journey. 

Author Interview: Dr. Zhen Geng

Focusing on bone/cartilage diseases and engaged in the research and transformation of bone/cartilage repair biomaterials and organoids. Served as the Director of the Editorial Department of Biomaterials Translational; Youth Editorial Board Member of Exploration, Chinese Chemical Letters, View, etc; Guest Editor of Journal of Functional Biomaterials. Published more than 50 papers in Bioact. Mater., Natl. Sci. Rev., ACS Nano, Nano Lett., Adv. Funct. Mater., Adv. Fiber Mater., Chem. Eng. J., Theranostics, Mater. Horiz., Compos. Part B-Eng., J. Mater. Sci. Technol., etc, with an H-index of 34.

Here is the interview we did with him:

I. Origins with BAM

1. What first introduced you to BAM? Do you remember the research topic of your first submission to BAM? What key factors influenced your decision to choose BAM at the time?

I first came into contact with BAM during my doctoral studies (I saw it on my WeChat Moments). At that time, there were not many domestic SCI journals, and the impact factors of international SCI journals were mostly in a "low score" state. BAM was still in the initial stage of development.

The title of the first article submitted to BAM is " Nano-needle strontium-substituted apatite coating enhances osteoporotic osseointegration through promoting osteogenesis and inhibiting osteoclastogenesis". This study is based on the clinical problem of multiple osteoporosis patients and difficulty in bone regeneration in the context of aging population. Under the guidance of Professor Xianjin Yang and Academician Changsheng Liu, a functional hydroxyapatite active coating enhanced implant bone integration project was carried out.

There were two reasons why I chose BAM at that time. 1. This article was published in 2020, when BAM was already influential in the field of biomaterials (the first IF was 8.7, which left a deep impression). 2. The core of this study is the "bioactive coating", which perfectly matches the term "Bioactive" in BAM and aligns with the journal's scope.

2. Among your publications in BAM, which article stands out the most? How has it impacted your academic career?

Currently, I have published 6 papers in BAM (including 4 ESI highly cited papers and 2 hot papers), each of which has left a deep impression. As for the most profound one, I think it is a review article titled 'The horizon of bone organoid: A perspective on construction and application'. At that time, shortly after I joined Shanghai University, the team leader Professor Su Jiacan pointed out that organoids are the forefront and focus of future research. So he led us to discuss, plan, and look forward to the research ideas and directions of bone/cartilage organoids (at that time, research on bone organoids was almost blank in the domestic and international research background), and finally formed this article (as of the writing date, the article has been cited 159 times and selected as a highly cited ESI paper). It is this article that opened the prelude to the shift of the team's research direction from traditional tissue engineering to organoids.

3. As a long-term supporter of BAM, how would you describe the journal’s development over the past decade (e.g., impact factor, review processes, internationalization)? What changes have impressed you the most?

Looking back on the ten years of BAM's development, it has also been a decade of my scientific research growth. In the past decade, I have witnessed the rapid development of BAM from few to many (annual publications ranging from tens to hundreds), from scratch (impact factor ranging from 0 to 8.7), from existing to excellent (from 8.7 to 20+), and from domestic journals to international top journals. Behind every success, extraordinary efforts are required. I sincerely admire the BAM editorial team and cheer for BAM.

In my eyes, there are two significant changes in BAM that I feel the most.

(1) Changes in the review system. Every year, I receive multiple review tasks from BAM (I am honored to have been awarded the Best Reviewer of 2024), and inevitably pay attention to the authors and affiliations on the homepage, which may have an impact on my review to some extent. Now, BAM has introduced a double-blind review system, which blocks author and affiliation information, making the review more objective, fair, and impartial.

(2) Enhancement of internationalization level. The composition of the editorial team is an important indicator for measuring the internationalization of a journal. In recent years, BAM has continuously recruited foreign researchers to serve as important editorial positions (almost all deputy editors are foreign researchers), which has led to a continuous improvement in its internationalization level.

II. Submission and Academic Exchange Experiences

    4. Could you share your secrets to success in submitting to BAM? For example, how do you prepare manuscripts that align with the journal’s scope? How do you efficiently respond to reviewer comments?

I believe the secret to success lies in putting oneself in others' shoes.

Before submitting, ask the work from the perspective of a reviewer: Is this research topic cutting-edge? Is the scientific question clear? Is the logic clear and organized? Do the experimental results support the project proposal? Is the image layout beautiful and coordinated?

Before the revision, review the Q&A from the perspective of the reviewer: Does this answer accurately respond to the reviewer's questions? Will this answer cause misunderstanding? Will this answer collide with the reviewer? Has the experiment requested by the reviewer been completed?

In short, to impress the reviewers, first impress yourself.

5. BAM emphasizes mult-discipline-crossing and clinical translation potential. How do you balance academic innovation with practical application in your research design?

This is a very controversial and interesting topic. Innovation and applicability are indeed opposite: innovative work is difficult to transform into application, and applied work is difficult to demonstrate innovation. How to balance academic innovation and application value, I believe its essence is how to break through the existing homogenized internal competition research model. Opening up new tracks may be a feasible path to achieving a win-win situation. For example, taking organoid research as an example, it not only reflects academic innovation (research frontiers and hotspots), but also demonstrates broad application prospects (drug screening, tissue repair, mechanism research, etc.), and is a powerful tool to break through the current research bottleneck in the field of tissue engineering.

6. Research integrity is a core principle of BAM. How do you ensure the authenticity and reproducibility of your data in your research? What advice would you give to early-career scholars on this topic?

Research integrity is the cornerstone of technological innovation and the lifeline of science and technology workers, and has become a focus of social attention. Professor Su Jiacan, the academic leader of our team, attaches great importance to research integrity and has established an academic review team (with me as the team leader). For each study, processes such as raw data archiving, image plagiarism checking, and AI text plagiarism checking have been established to ensure that the entire research chain is traceable, traceable, and controllable.

III. Discipline Outlook and Future Aspirations 

7. At the forefront of the materials science and biomedicine intersection, what do you see as the key breakthrough directions for the next decade? How might BAM contribute to these developments?

In the next decade, I believe that the cutting-edge breakthrough direction in the intersection of materials science and biomedical fields will be the combination of organoids and AI technologies. Our team has already laid out directions around organoids, including bone organoids, cartilage organoids, skin organoids, and intestinal organoids; Around AI, our team has built the world's first AI vertical large-scale model (O-GPT) in the field of organoids.

As an international journal at the intersection of materials science and biomedical fields, BAM will undoubtedly serve as a platform for publishing achievements in related fields, leading more researchers to advance in this area.

8. What is the single most important piece of advice you would give to young scholars submitting to BAM for the first time?

My suggestion is to consider the submitted paper as a work of art.

I have always told my students that a high-quality paper is like a good work of art, and before submitting it, one should examine whether it has the following characteristics:

(1) Innovation. Innovation is the core of scientific research papers. Does the job fill gaps in the field or resolve disputes? Is it forward-looking (such as predicting development trends)?

(2) Integrity. Is the structure of the paper complete? Is the logic coherent? Are the various parts working together to support the core argument?

(3) Depth of content. Is the analysis of the research question thorough? Is data mined from multiple dimensions?

(4) Technical skills. Is the research design, data collection, and analysis standardized? Have advanced technological means been adopted?

(5) Aesthetics. Is the picture beautiful and atmospheric? Is the color scheme appropriate? Is the layout neat?

(6) Meaning. Has the work produced profound significance in theory, engineering practice, clinical translation, and other aspects?

Before submitting, it is recommended to benchmark the above 6 criteria to assess whether the work meets the requirements of the journal.

9. Please share a one-sentence wish for BAM’s next decade and your expectations for the journal.

May BAM not forget its original intention in the next decade, continue to maintain its "active" spirit, guide more experts and scholars to explore academic boundaries, lead more domestic journals to the world, and promote high-quality and efficient development in the field of biomedical materials.