What do our Read & Publish agreements offer? How is pricing calculated?

Our standard Read & Publish agreements offer:

• Unlimited access to our three subscription journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology – and their full archives dating back to 1853 (even if your library does not currently subscribe to all the journals)
• uncapped, immediate and fee-free Open Access publishing of research articles for corresponding authors in our subscription journals OR, from 2022, our subscription journals PLUS our two fully Open Access journals – Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.

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 are also happy to discuss alternative Open Access models with library consortia.

What do library consortia say?

We have had great feedback from library consortia (see below) and also from librarians at participating institutions.

Agnès Ponsati, Director of CSIC’s Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI):

As the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe, the Spanish National Research Council is firmly committed to driving Open Science by promoting open access to CSIC’s research results.

The Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists is a new step forward in our strategy of promoting Open Access as a key pillar for open science at CSIC. We are pleased because it is a real cost-neutral agreement, thus fulfilling one of the basic principles of so-called transformative agreements. The agreement adds to the more than 25 open access agreements that CSIC has signed with a wide range of scientific publishers as part of its Open Access Publishing Support Program, with the aim of fostering a diverse and plural Open Access publishing ecosystem.

Find out more about our agreement with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

Ivy Anderson, Associate Executive Director of University of California’s California Digital Library:

UC couldn’t be more delighted to partner with The Company of Biologists on an Open Access agreement. As a leading scientist-led non-profit publisher of high-quality journals that shares our mission of transitioning the research literature to Open Access, The Company of Biologists is an important and valued outlet for UC authors. We appreciate their willingness to instantiate UC’s shared funding model and are pleased to partner with them on their first large-scale Open Access agreement in the United States.

Find out more about our agreement with the University of California

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

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.

Find out more about our Read & Publish agreement with the Max Planck Digital Library

Kathryn Spiller, formerly Licensing Manager, Jisc, UK:

The Company of Biologists is one of a small group of not-for-profit publishers who are working hard to push the Open Access agenda forward. Their new Read & Publish open access initiative is an important step in their OA journey, and we were delighted to be the first national library consortium to negotiate an agreement.

The Jisc agreement also enables institutions that have not previously subscribed to any of The Company of Biologists’ journals to benefit from an exceptionally cost-effective rate for read and publish access for their researchers.

We are very pleased with the take-up of the agreement so far, and look forward to working with The Company of Biologists to increase participation even further.

Find out more about our Read & Publish agreement with Jisc

Jack Hyland, IReL Manager, Ireland:

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.

Find out more about our Read & Publish agreement with IReL and hear IReL Officer Aaron Binchy talk about the agreement in this short video. 

Dr. Sigal Lahav Scher, Director, MALMAD, Israel:

We are excited to reach our first Read and Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists, offering an affordable framework for Israel’s universities. This is a significant step in our efforts to accelerate full and immediate open access through transformative agreements as cost effectively as possible.

Find out more about our Read & Publish agreement with MALMAD

Romy Beard, Licensing Programme Manager at Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL):

This agreement is an important step towards making the transition to Open Access more equitable. We are pleased to partner with The Company of Biologists to allow free Open Access publishing in their three hybrid journals. We are also pleased that The Company of Biologists is able to provide automatic recognition of authors, eliminating the need for authors to actively claim an APC waiver.

Find out more about our agreement with EIFL