New Read & Publish Open Access agreement between The Company of Biologists and the Council of Australian University Librarians

18 January 2022

The Company of Biologists is delighted to announce a new three-year Read & Publish Open Access agreement with the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL).

The agreement commenced on 1 January 2022 and CAUL-member institutions in Australia and New Zealand can sign up on an annual basis in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Researchers at participating institutions will be able to publish an uncapped number of articles immediately Open Access (OA) in The Company of Biologists’ prestigious hybrid journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology – without paying an article processing charge (APC). They will also benefit from unlimited access to the journals, including the full archive dating back to 1853.

Institutions also have the option to include uncapped APC-free publishing in The Company of Biologists’ fully Open Access journals – Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open – in their Read & Publish agreement.

Angus Cook, Director, Content Procurement at CAUL, says:

“Having a Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists, commencing in 2022, is an important continuation of CAUL’s progression to providing broader Open Access arrangements via consortium agreements. The agreement is useful not only for the access it gives to content across the biological sciences used by CAUL members, but also the ability to publish OA in these subject areas which will be highly valued for locally produced research. Agreements with organisations such as The Company of Biologists also confirm CAUL’s commitment to work with publishers of all sizes.”

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

“We are very excited to have signed our first ever consortium agreement with CAUL, particularly as it is also our first agreement in the Asia-Pacific region. Nine institutions in Australia and New Zealand were already participating in our Read & Publish initiative in 2021, and we hope that this new agreement will encourage many more to do so in 2022.”

Claire Moulton, Publisher at The Company of Biologists, says:

“The Company of Biologists has been committed to Open Access publishing since 2004 and we have a track record of innovation. Our journals were the first in the world to be awarded Transformative Journal status by Plan S. Researchers at over 400 institutions in more than 30 countries are benefitting from APC-free OA publishing through our cost-neutral Read & Publish initiative, and we exceeded our public commitment to grow OA content by 5% during 2021. We welcome our new partnership with CAUL and look forward to working together to further accelerate OA publishing in the biological and biomedical sciences in Australia and New Zealand.”

About the Council of Australian University Librarians 

The Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) is the peak leadership organisation for university libraries in Australia. CAUL members are the University Librarians or equivalent of the 39 institutions that have representation on Universities Australia and the 8 members of the Council of New Zealand University Librarians (CONZUL). CAUL makes a significant contribution to higher education strategy, policy and outcomes through a commitment to a shared purpose: To transform how people experience knowledge – how it can be discovered, used and shared. CAUL’s vision is that society is transformed through the power of research, teaching and learning. University libraries are essential knowledge and information infrastructures that enable student achievement and research excellence.

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 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 one international library organisation.