Read & Publish Open Access agreement with IReL renewed for a further three years

18 December 2025

The Company of Biologists is delighted to announce the renewal of its five-journal Read & Publish agreement with IReL. Building on the success of our previous partnerships, we have signed a new agreement that will run from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028.

Corresponding authors at participating institutions in Ireland can publish an uncapped number of research articles immediately Open Access (OA) in our transformative journals (Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology) and our fully Open Access journals (Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open) without paying an article processing charge (APC). Researchers at participating institutions also benefit from unlimited access to our transformative journals, including their full archives dating back to 1853.

Susan Reilly, IReL Director, says:

“The renewal of our Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists represents our Negotiations Principles being put into action. We have negotiated terms that are aligned with our ambition for publishers to commit to a sustainable OA transition. This agreement reflects IReL’s ongoing commitment to supporting Open Access and ensuring that researchers across Ireland can share their work globally without financial barriers. By providing cost-neutral publishing and comprehensive access to high-quality journals, we are helping to advance open science and foster collaboration within the international research community.”

Rich Blount, International Sales Manager, The Company of Biologists, says:

“We are delighted to enter into this new three-year agreement with IReL. This partnership will ensure that researchers across Ireland can publish fee-free Open Access research articles in our journals, widening global visibility and supporting the principles of open and collaborative science. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with the Irish research community and supporting their contributions to biological discovery from 2026 to 2028.”

The following institutions are participating in the 2026-2028 Read & Publish agreement:

• Dublin City University
• Maynooth University
• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
• Technological University Dublin
• Trinity College Dublin
• University College Cork
• University College Dublin
• University of Galway
• University of Limerick

About IReL

The Irish Research e-Library is a consortium of Irish research libraries. Established in 2004, it provides participating member institutions with access to a wide range of licensed e-resources, open access publishing agreements with over twenty publishers, and open research infrastructure. IReL is hosted by Maynooth University.

IReL has endorsed the NORF Action Plan, in particular its goal that by 2030 Ireland will have implemented a sustainable and inclusive course for achieving 100% open access to research publications.

Since 2004, IReL has provided Irish universities with access to a world-class electronic library service. IReL was established by the university librarians, initially to expand their libraries access to science, technology and medicine resources, but later grew to include the humanities and social sciences.

IReL’s membership has also grown from the initial founding universities to include publicly funded technological universities, colleges, and research institutes.

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 transformative journals — Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology — and our fully OA journals — Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open. 2025 marks the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists. We have celebrated this important milestone with a community conference and other activities throughout the year.

We also have a long-standing and ongoing commitment to OA. Our cost-neutral Read & Publish initiative enables corresponding authors at participating institutions to publish an uncapped number of OA research articles in our transformative journals and our two fully OA journals — without paying an APC. We were the first not-for-profit publisher to commit to the transformative journal approach and we are working towards a greater percentage of OA content year on year. Over 1,000 institutions in 56 countries are now participating in our cost-neutral Read & Publish OA initiative. We also have Read & Publish agreements with many library consortia.

Learn more about our bio-positive publishing initiative, The Forest of Biologists.