Read & Publish: what authors at UK institutions say
We have received great feedback from authors at institutions participating in our current three-year Read & Publish agreement with Jisc, as well as the initial two-year pilot agreement which preceded it.
In the 2022-2024 agreement, institutions can choose to include uncapped, immediate and APC-free Open Access publishing in our two fully Open Access journals (Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open) in addition to our three hybrid journals (Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology).
Anna Vernon, Jisc, UK
"We are pleased to renew our agreement with The Company of Biologists. As well as providing access to the latest biological literature for UK universities and supporting cutting-edge research, it will also continue to facilitate the transition to Open Access for UK research and the publisher."
"I was delighted to learn that our paper in Journal of Experimental Biology could be published Open Access without a fee thanks to the Read & Publish Agreement with the University of Liverpool. This is incredibly important to graduate students or those on teaching contracts like me, as it gives us the opportunity to publish in leading journals without financial barriers. Open Access is incredibly important for making research available to everyone and should be something that every organisation should strive to be part of."
"It’s been brilliant to publish our article with fee-free Open Access under the Read & Publish agreement. It only took a couple of minutes to arrange the agreement, and now our work has increased visibility, citations, and impact. Thanks Journal of Experimental Biology!"
"As the majority of our research is funded by taxpayer money or charity donations I think it is essential that everyone can freely access and read our findings. The Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and The University of Edinburgh allowed us to publish our article immediately after acceptance and freely to everyone, with very little hassle and no additional financial responsibility from us."
"Publishing our paper in the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms was made seamless thanks to the Read & Publish Open Access agreement between the University of Cambridge and The Company of Biologists. With a few easy clicks, this agreement enabled us to publish our paper fee-free, and with Open Access for all readers around the world."
"Development is one of the most influential and important journals in developmental biology, so I am thankful that the Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and The University of Edinburgh allows our research to be accessed widely, globally, both within the scientific community and to the general public, in a fair and democratising way. The Read & Publish agreement also allows us, active in research today to maintain contact with the research and findings of a previous generation of scientists; it is tremendously important that this knowledge is actively used and treasured."
"I was really pleased to learn that Journal of Experimental Biology was included in the Read & Publish agreement with the University of Edinburgh. This allowed me to publish my article open access, without the hassle of trying to establish whether there are any funds available to cover the cost. Hopefully more journals will follow suit and we will soon see an end to journal pay walls, so our science is open to everyone that wants to read it, as it should be!"
"I love the fact that my university has an arrangement with The Company of Biologists that allowed me to publish my article in Journal of Experimental Biology Open Access without me having to find the necessary funding – and it’s even better that The Company of Biologists is a non-profit organisation and that it plants a tree for every paper published. I wish all journals offered to do the same!"
"I am excited to share that our research paper on somatic cell nuclear reprogramming for clinical use has been published in Biology Open. Thanks to the University of Cambridge’s Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists, we were able to make the publication open access with APC free. With this support, we have fulfilled our funders’ request for open-access publication to promote collaboration and transparent sharing of research findings."
"Really delighted about our recent paper in DMM, and was great news that we were able to publish without having to pay an Open Access fee thanks to a Read & Publish agreement with our university."
"I am extremely happy to publish our work Open Access. It is so important to ensure that we can share our peer reviewed work and make it as widely available as possible. We are grateful to The Company of Biologists and Imperial College London for making this possible through their Read & Publish agreement and couldn’t recommend highly enough publishing in Development. The process was seamless, and it is one of the things I feel proudest of in my career."
Doug Winton, CRUK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, UK
"We were delighted that The Company of Biologists has a Read & Publish agreement with the University of Cambridge. Such agreements are fundamental to the culture of Open Access without financial burden. It’s great to see agreements in place which include less-established institutions and researchers and ensure better access to publishing across the globe."
"We are delighted to publish our article in Journal of Cell Science. The manuscript was handled professionally throughout and the whole process was straightforward. I am particularly happy the University of Manchester has a Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists which made the Open Access publication of the accepted version rapid and painless. I would thoroughly recommend JCS to other investigators in the field."
Dorothy C Bennett, St. George's, University of London, UK
Dorothy C Bennett, St. George's, University of London, UK
"Well done to The Company of Biologists for their excellent Read & Publish deals, including with my institution, St George’s, University of London. It’s a great pleasure and benefit for our paper in Biology Open to be immediately available to all, free of charge.
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"I would really like to thank Disease Models and Mechanisms journal for the Read & Publish agreement with my university that has allowed publication of my recent article in an efficient and timely way and that is free of charge for the authors. This facility is very useful for many researchers with limited funding, allowing Open Access publishing without financial penalty to authors. The Company of Biologists shows very progressive thinking in this regard."
"We are delighted to publish our paper in Disease Models and Mechanisms immediately Open Access under the Read & Publish agreement with University College London. This is an important agreement to allow for free Open Access to our articles, which will allow for immediate dissemination of our work."
"Yet another professional and pain free handling of our manuscript at Journal of Cell Science, and the Read & Publish agreement with University of Bristol meant it was fee-free for us to publish Open Access, allowing everyone to read our paper immediately."
"Nice deal for readers and authors: Published Open Access without having to pay for it from my limited funding . Thanks to Cardiff University and The Company of Biologists."
Rafael Gois De Almeida, The University of Edinburgh, UK
Rafael Gois De Almeida, The University of Edinburgh, UK
"I am delighted that my institution has a Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists. This meant that by choosing to send our team's first manuscript to the fantastic journal Development, the submission process was straightforward, cost-free, and worry-free, and we benefitted from great editorial support – all of which are invaluable as a newly established group. This has led to a publication that everyone can access, which will hopefully amplify its impact. We look forward to publishing more Open Science with The Company of Biologists!"
"It was great to discover that the University of Sussex library had signed a Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists. It made publishing an article in Journal of Experimental Biology very straightforward. It’s important for labs like mine that have relatively little funding. It also supports open academia, ensuring anyone can read the work, which was important to me and the early-career researchers in my lab."
Emma Rawlins, Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, UK
Emma Rawlins, Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, UK
"The Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and the University of Cambridge made my life so easy. I could send my manuscript to Development knowing that, if accepted, publishing in my favourite journal would be straightforward, comply with my funder's requirements and be free at point of use. All that plus a free tree in The Forest of Biologists!"
"DMM is well respected in my field and I was delighted to publish our research here. Alongside being a publisher, The Company of Biologists do a stellar job in their support of the scientific community. The Read & Publish agreement with University of Sheffield makes it even more attractive to publish in this collection of journals, allowing immediate Open Access for all."
"As an early-career researcher it’s a joy to see my research paper visible to a wide audience. Securing academic research funding is challenging and so it was great that the Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and my institution assisted me to publish my work Open Access in Biology Open without any article processing charge. I found the fast-tracked review process extremely helpful and received enormous support from the editorial team. I look forward to submitting my next research article to a journal from The Company of Biologists."
"As an author, the post-acceptance processing of my paper was incredibly easy! The Read & Publish agreement meant that I didn’t personally have to arrange payment for the publication of my research, and everything was dealt with on my behalf by the journal staff and my institution. Open Access publication is a key requirement of my research funder, so knowing that this agreement was in place took a weight off my mind when I was preparing my manuscript for submission."
"We are delighted with the Read & Publish agreement between University of Cambridge and The Company of Biologists. It was very smooth to publish Open Access in Development and this also helped us meet funder requirements."
"I was very pleased to discover that Durham University has a Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists. This led to the seamless Open Access publishing of our article, which is important both for us in terms of getting our article widely available immediately, and for our funders who rightly require Open Access of publicly funded research."
Professor Serge Mostowy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UK
Professor Serge Mostowy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UK
"The Company of Biologists is doing great things for science and the community. The Read & Publish agreement with London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine enabled immediate Open Access publishing of our research, maximising readership and impact."
"I was delighted to find that we could publish in DMM for free through the Read & Publish agreement. This makes a real difference for papers like this and my lab is very supportive of this endeavour."
"We didn’t have access to funding to publish our work, so the Read & Publish agreement between our institution and The Company of Biologists was key! We are thrilled that with Open Access, our paper is available to anyone, anywhere in the world."
"I was excited to find that my university has a Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists. This meant that I could immediately publish our study of the role of Collagen-6 in the cancer microenvironment as an Open Access article when it was accepted in Journal of Cell Science. This kind of arrangement means that authors can make their work more accessible to everyone and reach a wide audience."
"Open Access agreements such as Read & Publish are a step towards making scientific knowledge freely accessible to everyone, which is crucial for the advancement of research and understanding. The ability to immediately publish articles Open Access through the Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and University College London helped me share our findings and contributions with a wider audience, enabling greater collaboration and dissemination of knowledge. I am grateful for this agreement and the smooth publishing experience with Development."
"Open Access is so important for disseminating scientific research to the global community and overcoming the barriers in knowledge accessibility. Having the Read & Publish agreement in place between The Company of Biologists and the University of Exeter really streamlined and simplified the publication process for us and meant our cutting-edge research could rapidly be shared with the world."
"Knowledge should be available to everyone. Therefore, I am delighted that our article is immediately available as Open Access without a publishing fee thanks to the Read & Publish agreement between the University of Edinburgh and The Company of Biologists.
We had a great experience with Biology Open and it will definitely be among our top choices for future articles."
"Our paper in Journal of Cell Science presents new open source software which we hope will be of use to a wide range of researchers. The software is freely available, so it was appropriate that the paper describing it was also freely available. The Read & Publish agreement that The Company of Biologists has with the Francis Crick Institute made this possible and streamlined the publication process. Hopefully such agreements will become standard in scientific publishing as anything that facilitates Open Access publishing and helps to disseminate research published in top journals is to be welcomed."
"I am delighted that our Research Article in Development has been published immediately Open Access under the Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and the University of Cambridge. We are excited about our work and it’s great that we can share it so readily with the global research community. I have always found the experience of publishing In Development to be a straightforward and rewarding experience and like that the entire peer review process is transparent and available to readers of our manuscript."
"The Company of Biologists has a smooth and supportive publication process and the Read & Publish agreement with my university allowed us to rapidly publish our work Open Access without paying a fee!"
"We were delighted that our paper was accepted in Development and doubly delighted that, thanks to the Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and The University of Edinburgh, we could publish it immediately Open Access with no extra cost. It is wonderful that our research output is more accessible, thus engaging a wider range of readers. We look forward to submitting forthcoming papers under the Read & Publish agreement too!"
Thomas Tischer, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), UK
"Our institution and funders require Open Access publishing and we believe that scientific knowledge should be open and accessible. After spending so much time on our work, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the Read & Publish agreement between the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and The Company of Biologists allows us to immediately make our article free to everyone without any additional article processing charges. This made the final step of our journey hassle-free and it was really quick getting it published."
"I was thrilled to see that Journal of Cell Science was part of a Read & Publish agreement with the University of Liverpool. It makes the publishing process fast and free of charge for authors. For scientists with limited funding such as early-career researchers, this allows the best research to be published in the best journals without having to think about the financial implications. I wish all publishers would follow the steps of The Company of Biologists."
"After all the time spent on revisions, formatting, and doing careful last-minute checks on your manuscript, the last thing you want is to struggle with Open Access compliance and organising payment of page charges! The Read & Publish agreement between my institution and The Company of Biologists meant getting our accepted manuscript out there for all to see was only a click away. Simple and efficient!"
"I was pleasantly surprised to hear that The Company of Biologists has a Read & Publish agreement with The University of Edinburgh (amongst other institutes). The initiative allows for immediate Open Access publication without charge in Development, which is especially important for early career researchers!
With the scientific landscape moving further into Open Research, The Company of Biologists is setting a commendable example."
"If possible scientific knowledge should be open to everyone. It is great that I could publish my work immediately Open Access as part of the Read & Publish agreement between the University of Cambridge and The Company of Biologists."
"We always seek to make our research available Open Access and the new Read & Publish agreement has hugely simplified that process for us as authors and also, I hope, for our Open Access Team. This also equalises opportunity for OA publishing for everyone across the University regardless of career stage and funding. It is also great to know this applies to all The Company of Biologists’ subscription journals."
"It was wonderful to discover that we could publish our paper Open Access for free in Development, thanks to the Read & Publish agreement my university has with The Company of Biologists. It’s great to know that our research is immediately accessible to everyone worldwide who wishes to access it."
Èlia Benito-Gutiérrez, University of Cambridge, UK
"Knowledge should have no limits so, not only were we absolutely delighted to publish our article in Development, it was great to be able to publish it immediately Open Access without charge thanks to the University of Cambridge’s Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists."
"I’m very glad that we had the opportunity to publish this paper Open Access without charge thanks to the Read & Publish agreement my university has with The Company of Biologists. I believe science cannot be hiding behind a paywall and restricted to a selected few but should be reachable by anyone, anywhere."
"I was very happy to see that my university participates in the Read & Publish initiative, which facilitates publishing Open Access for free in some of my favourite journals including Development. This was particularly important for my lab in this instance because our relevant funding had just come to an end.
I wish The Company of Biologists good luck in this journey that promises to help our community overcome publishing and accessibility barriers."
"When developing a tool, you don’t want it to sit on the proverbial shelf gathering dust, but you want people to use it. The free Open Access option is great because it maximises the number of people who will see your work, and then hopefully use it to make their own discoveries."
"The Read & Publish Open Access Initiative is just one of the many ways in which The Company of Biologists demonstrates their commitment to supporting the research community. Open Access fees represent a significant barrier to disseminating research, and I was delighted to find out that they are waived for authors from participating institutions when publishing in Development. Another reason to publish in this excellent journal!"
"The cost of publishing Open Access can be a barrier to the broad dissemination of research, but low and behold this time it was free! Seemed too good to be true – had I pressed the wrong button? It seems I did not as my university has a Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists. Free publishing and Open Access; we’ll be sending in more papers soon hopefully!"
"Always happy to publish in Development, even happier to publish Open Access without a charge! Happy to see that our favourite journal can support Open Access while also helping The Company of Biologists continue to support our community."
"As a Research Fellow with limited resources, I am very pleased to be able to publish our article Open Access thanks to the Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and The University of Bristol. Many thanks are also due to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation who support the submersibles operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The Open Access publishing process itself was painless and completed in a matter of minutes. All four authors are delighted that everyone may access our article immediately, rather than it being behind a paywall. It’s a great system."
"When UCL announced the transformative agreement with many publishers and the Read & Publish Open Access initiative by The Company of Biologists, I couldn’t have been any happier, in particular since Journal of Cell Science and Development are two go-to journals in our area of vascular cell biology and cell signaling. Undoubtedly, it is these kind of initiatives that are needed to use public research funds money wisely and truly make science accessible and more impactful for all. With this kind of publication policy The Company of Biologists will always remain at the top of the pile for us."
"It is important to me that publicly funded research like our own is available for the public to read, and Open Access agreements are a really great tool to help achieve this. It also makes it much easier for me to share our work with collaborators and other interested parties, which I’m sure helps with the overall dissemination of our research."
"We were delighted to be able to publish our article Open Access free of charge in Journal of Experimental Biology and we feel very privileged to have this opportunity. As early career researchers completing research that was not funded using a massive grant, we had no funds available to cover publication fees. This is a factor that can limit many researchers, so being able to publish Open Access for free was a lifeline for me and my co-authors."
Geraldine Wright, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK
"Journal of Experimental Biology is one of my favourite journals and I was very pleased that we could publish our article Open Access without charge as a result of the R&P agreement. OA makes our research available to everyone immediately and increases the impact of our work. When you consider how much of our time and public money goes into the production of a scientific article, anything that improves its overall impact and availability amplifies its value."
"My university’s Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists has allowed me to publish the research from my PhD in Journal of Experimental Biology without having to worry about finding funding for Open Access charges. My work is available instantly for free and can be read by JEB’s wide readership of scientists from different backgrounds."
"The Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and The University of York is a fantastic step forward in reducing barriers to publishing – and accessing – research articles. Alongside pre-printing for early documentation of work, such mechanisms are particularly helpful for early career researchers like me. The first paper from my lab, recently accepted by Journal of Cell Science, was made available Open Access without charge through this agreement and all other aspects of the editorial process were equally simple!"
"Being able to publish Open Access for free in the Journal of Experimental Biology has helped us expand the readership of our research, in a very fast and convenient way. It is particularly encouraging for early career researchers at institutions with Read & Publish agreements for the journal, as it allows them to display their research globally without the need to find costs to cover the Open Access option."
"The Read & Publish agreement is great for us at The Crick. As a corresponding author, I can publish as many papers as I like in The Company of Biologists’ journals, such as Development, without paying an Open Access charge. It also means that as a reader I have access to all The Company of Biologists’ content, dating back to the early 20th century and beyond."
"I was very pleased to publish Open Access in Journal of Cell Science with no fees nor time-consuming admin processes. The clear advantages are rapid and efficient exposure and easy access to my article around the world. I believe it is great to have this publishing option in fast-growing fields in biomedical research."
"I was delighted to have our paper accepted for publication in Development but the cherry on the cake was learning that our paper would be published Open Access for zero pounds and zero pence without me having to do anything.
I’d heard of Read & Publish deals and knew that many universities, including mine, had signed up to them but I had not previously understood the benefits that these deals bring to authors who work at those universities."
"It’s wonderful to be able to publish in a journal like Development for ‘free’. The best part for me was how painless the digital paperwork was – the web form is brief and takes very little time to fill out."
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