Read & Publish agreements drive significant increase in Open Access research content
10 February 2022
Over 400 institutions in 34 countries are now participating in The Company of Biologists’ Read & Publish Open Access initiative. We have signed agreements with library consortia in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Spain, the UK and the USA. We have also signed a landmark agreement with EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) which enables researchers in 30 developing and transition economy countries to publish Open Access articles in our hybrid journals without paying an article processing charge (APC).
The success of our Read & Publish initiative has led to a significant increase in the proportion of Open Access (OA) research content in our hybrid subscription journals, which were the first from any publisher to be afforded Transformative Journal status by Plan S.
In 2021, OA research content increased by 10% in Development, 12% in Journal of Cell Science and 15% in Journal of Experimental Biology. This meant that all journals exceeded the Transformative Journal target for OA growth of 5%.
From 2022, institutions can also choose to include our fully OA journals – Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open – in their Read & Publish agreements.
Claire Moulton, Publisher at The Company of Biologists, says:
“We have a long-standing commitment to OA and a track record of innovation. We were one of the first not-for-profit publishers to offer cost-neutral and uncapped Read & Publish agreements and our journals were the first from any publisher to be afforded Transformative Journal status. Together, these initiatives are already producing great results. Corresponding authors at over 400 institutions across five continents can now publish OA research articles without paying an APC and this has helped us to exceed our Transformative Journal targets in 2021. We look forward to continuing to work closely with our library partners and authors to increase the proportion of OA research content in our hybrid journals further and to meet the ambitious growth targets we have set ourselves in 2022 and beyond.”
Richard Grove, Commercial Manager at The Company of Biologists, says:
“Our Read & Publish initiative has been a big success and we have received wonderful feedback from authors, librarians and library consortia around the world. Most recently we have signed a three-year agreement with the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), and over 35 UK institutions have already confirmed their participation in our 2022-2024 renewal agreement with Jisc, including all that participated in the 2020-2022 agreement. In addition, we are excited that librarians can now choose to include our two fully Open Access journals in their Read & Publish agreements.”
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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 subscription journals: Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology.
We have been committed to Open Access (OA) for over 16 years. We publish two fully OA journals – Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open. Our hybrid journals were the first in the world to be afforded Transformative Journal status by Plan S and over 400 institutions in more than 30 countries. are now participating in our cost-neutral Read & Publish OA initiative. We also have Read & Publish agreements with seven library consortia and an international library organisation.
