The Company of Biologists renews Read & Publish agreement with ZB Med

28 October 2026

The Company of Biologists is delighted to announce the renewal of our Read & Publish Open Access consortium agreement with ZB Med – Information Centre for Life Sciences, Germany from 2027-2029.

The renewal comes from a successful initial agreement in Germany with Missing Link Versandbuchhandlung eG, our German representative, being influential in helping us establish and strengthen connections.

Corresponding authors at participating institutions in Germany can publish an uncapped number of research articles immediately Open Access (OA) in our hybrid journals (Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology) plus 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 hybrid journals, including their full archives dating back to 1853.

Separately from the renewed Read & Publish agreement, participating institutions can now also purchase access to the journal archive under a separate agreement, with discounts based on the number of institutions that opt to purchase access.

Petra Labriga, Head of Strategic Licensing and Acquisitions at ZB Med, says:

“Renewing this agreement with The Company of Biologists supports our commitment to making life sciences research more widely accessible. Researchers at participating institutions can continue to publish Open Access across all five journals without individual article processing charges or limits on the number of research articles published. We particularly value working with a not-for-profit publisher that supports the biological research community and contributes to a diverse scholarly publishing landscape.”

Tanita Vorreiter, Marketing Manager at Missing Link, says:

“When The Company of Biologists presented its ‘Read & Publish’ model to us, we were immediately enthusiastic about the proposal and support The Company of Biologists wholeheartedly. The widespread participation in the Zeid Consortium shows that our enthusiasm is shared by the open access community, and we are delighted that the agreement is renewed.”

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

“Working closely with Missing Link Versandbuchhandlung eG, renewing our Read & Publish agreement with ZB Med is an important milestone and a testament to the success of our partnership over the past three years. Since launching our first agreement in 2024, we have worked together to broaden access to trusted research and support a growing number of authors in publishing their work openly. We are delighted to continue this journey with ZB Med through 2029, strengthening our shared commitment to advancing open science and delivering greater value to the research community.”

About ZB Med – Information for Life Sciences

Z B Med – Information for Life Sciences is Germany’s national infrastructure and research hub for data and information in the life sciences. Our digital services support research projects that benefit people and the environment from medicine and biodiversity to environmental protection.

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.