We are saying goodbye to Dr O. Claire Moulton this week, who is retiring from her role as CEO of The Company of Biologists. We’d like to take this opportunity to look back at Claire’s career and her impact on our company.
After a PhD and a postdoc in molecular biology, Claire started her career in scientific publishing as a Journal Editor for Current Science. She progressed to become a Publishing Manager and then a Publisher for Current Opinion, Trends and Drug Discovery Today review titles, published by Elsevier. In 2007 she took a leap when she joined the not-for-profit publisher The Company of Biologists as the Publisher – a role she would hold for almost twenty years.
Claire has always had an open mind when it comes to innovations in publishing and encouraged both the Company and her staff to explore different avenues in an industry that always seems in flux. During her time at the Company, Claire has not only launched two new journals (Disease Models & Mechanisms in 2008 and Biology Open in 2011) but also overseen many other big projects, a few of which we’d like to highlight here.
In 2014, the Company underwent a major rebrand. Leading a cross-departmental project group and working alongside a brand consultant and design agency, Claire managed the project that led to what we affectionately call ‘the nautilus’. A new logo, a new house style and a new website, visually connecting the different pillars of the Company: publishing, grants and events.
In 2018, we launched preLights, another project that Claire has championed from the outset. With an ever-growing number of preprints, researchers may find it hard to stay up to date with all that’s new in their particular field of interest. preLights addresses that challenge by offering a preprint highlighting service – it is a community-run website, hosted by The Company of Biologists. A group of active early-career researchers – the ‘preLighters’ – select and highlight preprints of interest, provide relevant comments and engage authors in further discussion. preLights was shortlisted as a finalist for the ALPSP Awards for Innovation in Publishing 2019.
The third project we’d like to highlight is The Forest of Biologists. Launched in 2023, this biopositive publishing initiative sees a native tree planted in a UK forest for every peer-reviewed article published in one of our journals. In addition, the Company funds the preservation of ancient woodland and dedicates these trees to our peer reviewers. All actual trees are also represented in a virtual forest. Not only is it a joy to see how much the biological community appreciates this initiative, but we know how much Claire has personally enjoyed the collaboration and partnership with The Woodland Trust, learning about a variety of different tree species and their protection along the way. The Forest of Biologists was shortlisted as a finalist for the ALPSP Impact Awards 2024. Watch Claire’s visit to The Forest of Biologists.
In January 2025, the year the Company celebrated its 100-year anniversary, Claire was appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer of The Company of Biologists. Working closely with the newly appointed Chief Financial Officer, the new senior management team and the Board of Directors, Claire played a pivotal role in redefining the Company’s strategic objectives and establishing a roadmap for long-term financial sustainability in an evolving publishing landscape. Throughout 2025, we celebrated the anniversary with a wide variety of activities, ranging from content collections in our journals to a hugely successful scientific conference that brought the biology community together.
And bringing people together is what Claire does best. Over the years, Claire has built a wide network in scientific publishing, serving as a volunteer on committees and working groups of various organisations, including the Society Publishers Coalition, ALPSP and DORA. She has always been generous with her time and support – many at the Company have learned a great deal from her and have thoroughly enjoyed working with her.
With Claire now ready to enjoy her new-found freedom, we’d like to say a big thank you for the positive mark that she has left on The Company of Biologists!
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