Read & Publish Open Access initiative

The Company of Biologists has been committed to Open Access since 2004 because we believe that immediate and free availability of high-quality research helps us to achieve our mission of advancing excellence in the biological and biomedical sciences worldwide.

We were one of the first not-for-profit journal publishers to launch a cost-neutral Read & Publish initiative, and over 150 institutions in 15 countries and four library consortia are now participating.

View our Read & Publish flier | View our Read & Publish slide deck

What are Read & Publish agreements?

Available to libraries and library consortia for a single annual fee, our Read & Publish agreements offer unlimited “read” access to our subscription journals plus uncapped fee-free Gold Open Access publishing of research articles.

Read
Unlimited access to all current and available archive content dating back to 1853

Publish
Free and uncapped publication of Gold Open Access research articles

What are the benefits of Read & Publish agreements?

Read & Publish agreements offer many benefits to libraries and researchers including:

unlimited access to our three subscription journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology – including the full archive dating back to 1853
free and uncapped publishing of Gold Open Access research articles for all corresponding authors under CC-BY licence terms, with authors retaining copyright
supports institutions and authors working to meet funding requirements and to make Open Access the default publishing choice
transparent, cost-neutral pricing plus ease of administration with no separate article processing charges (APCs)

Read & Publish for libraries

Read & Publish agreements are available to individual libraries worldwide. Read what librarians say.

Pricing is transparent and cost-neutral. It is calculated on the basis of current subscription spend plus the annual average APC spend (if any) over the last three years.

Read & Publish agreements offer unlimited access to all our subscription journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology – even if your library does not currently subscribe to them all. Corresponding authors can also publish an uncapped number of Open Access research articles in our three subscription journals at no cost to them.

An expanding range of resources – including posters, social media graphics and website banners – is available to help librarians at participating institutions inform researchers about the ways in which Read & Publish agreements will benefit them.

Any questions? Contact us to find out more

Read & Publish for library consortia

Read & Publish agreements are available to library consortia worldwide.

Pricing for standard Read & Publish agreements is calculated on the basis of the number of institutions within the consortium that wish to participate and their historic publishing and subscription spend.

We have signed Read & Publish agreements with three national library consortia – IReL (Ireland), Jisc (UK) and MALMAD (Israel). We have also signed a Read & Publish agreement with the Max Planck Digital Library which has been tailored to meet the needs of a research-intensive institution with a large network of institutes.

Matthew Freeman, Chairman of The Company of Biologists and Head of the Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, said:

We are thrilled to have signed Read & Publish agreements with IReL, Jisc, MALMAD and, most recently, the Max Planck Digital Library. As a small not-for-profit publisher, this important initiative strengthens our support for the biological community and represents an important step in our Open Access journey.

Ralf Schimmer, Head of Information Provision at the Max Planck Digital Library, said:

We are very pleased to implement this new agreement with The Company of Biologists, and salute their willingness to test new economic models that are repurposing previous subscription fees to facilitate a sustainable and cost-neutral transition of their journals to an Open Access publishing model.This agreement marks a further, significant step in the Max Planck Society’s strategy to enable open dissemination of research, in line with the principles of the OA2020 Initiative and the Berlin Declaration on Open Access.

Jack Hyland, IReL Manager, said:

IReL is delighted to sign an agreement with The Company of Biologists. It provides our corresponding authors with immediate Open Access publishing without them needing to pay article processing charges. The agreement also enables students and researchers to have access to additional journals previously unavailable to them.