700 institutions join Company of Biologists’ Read & Publish initiative

The Company of Biologists has announced that a further 102 institutions have joined its cost-neutral Read & Publish Open Access (OA) initiative since January 2023.

More than 700 institutions in 42 countries are now participating. Agreements are in place with thirteen library consortia, following new deals with IISER, JULAC and ZB Med – Information Centre for Life Sciences as well as the renewal and expansion of our agreement with Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL).

The Company says the success of its Read & Publish initiative is continuing to drive significant growth in the proportion of OA research content in its hybrid journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology – which were the first in the world to be afforded Transformative Journal status by Plan S.

Shelly Turner, Head of Sales and Business Development at The Company of Biologists, said: “Thanks to the tremendous support we have received from libraries and library consortia around the world, we are thrilled that over 700 institutions in 42 countries are now participating in our Read & Publish OA initiative. We are also really pleased that most of the agreements include all five journals which expands publishing opportunities for researchers around the world to submit fee-free Open Access articles.”

Claire Moulton, Publisher, The Company of Biologists, added: “As part of our long-standing commitment to OA and our track record of innovation, we were one of the first not-for-profit publishers to launch a Read & Publish initiative. The ongoing success of the initiative is supporting our Transformative Journal strategy and has helped us to meet our targets for OA growth. We have also been delighted with the fantastic feedback we have had from authors who have benefitted from immediate and fee-free OA publishing in our journals, particularly from early-career researchers for whom lack of funding can be a major issue.”