The Company of Biologists renews Read & Publish agreement with EIFL for a further three years

26 May 2026

The Company of Biologists is delighted to confirm the renewal of our Read & Publish Open Access agreement with Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) from 2027 to 2029.

Under this agreement, corresponding authors based in 33 developing and transition economy countries will continue to be able to publish an unlimited number of Open Access research articles without paying article processing charges (APCs). This applies to the Company’s two fully Open Access journals – Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open – as well as our hybrid journals, Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology. Researchers at participating institutions will also retain unlimited access to these journals and their archives, which date back to 1853.

Eligible countries

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Malawi, Maldives, Moldova, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, North Macedonia, Palestine, Senegal, Serbia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Britt-Marie Wideberg, EIFL Licensing Programme Manager, says:

“Our partnership with The Company of Biologists started in 2020. We are really happy that the partnership is continuing and that researchers will continue to benefit from free access and Open Access publishing for another three years. Adding free access to The Company of Biologists journal archive will enrich researchers’ experience in the field.”    

Shelly Turner, Sales and Marketing Director at The Company of Biologists, says:

“We are delighted to announce the renewal of our Read & Publish Open Access agreement with EIFL for a further term. This partnership has delivered strong results, with engagement and usage of our content across participating universities increasing by 53% over the past year. Additionally, corresponding authors in 33 developing and transition economy countries have been able to publish a greater number of articles in our journals without the burden of APC fees.”

About EIFL

EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) is a not-for-profit organisation that works with libraries to enable access to knowledge in developing and transition economy countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America.

EIFL runs a number of programmes to enable access to knowledge for education, learning, research and sustainable community development. This includes negotiating agreements with publishers to secure affordable access to e-resources as well as Open Access publishing terms on behalf of libraries and authors in EIFL partner countries.

Further information about fee-free Open Access publishing can be found on the EIFL website.

About The Company of Biologists

The Company of Biologists is a not-for-profit publishing organisation dedicated to supporting and inspiring the biological community. We partner with libraries and library consortia to enable biologists worldwide to access our leading peer-reviewed hybrid journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology.

We have a long-standing and ongoing commitment to Open Access. Our cost-neutral Read & Publish initiative enables corresponding authors at participating institutions to publish an uncapped number of OA research articles in our hybrid journals and our two fully OA journals – Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open – without paying an Article Processing Charge (APC). We were the first not-for-profit publisher to commit to the Transformative Journal approach and our journals were the first to be awarded Transformative Journal status by Plan S. Over 1,000 institutions in 57 countries are now participating in our cost-neutral Read & Publish OA initiative. We also have Read & Publish agreements with many library consortia.