The Company of Biologists is a UK not-for-profit publishing organization dedicated to supporting and inspiring the biological and biomedical sciences communities.
Researchers at participating institutions benefit from:
Further information on this agreement is available from The Company of Biologists.
This page was last updated on 28 March 2025.
The following institutions participate in this agreement:
Authors who do not see their institution listed above should contact library staff to enquire further.
This agreement allows authors from participating institutions to publish in all of The Company of Biologists’ hybrid and gold journals without the need for any transactional open access article processing charge (APC).
This is an uncapped agreement. There is no limit on the number of articles that can be published OA under this agreement.
Articles accepted from 1/1/2025 are eligible to be published open access under this agreement.
The following article types are eligible for open access under this agreement:
As defined by the publisher, the eligible author is:
The corresponding author of an article published in a Licensed Title who is affiliated with one of the Institutions.
Responsible corresponding authors must include a participating institution as one of their affiliations to benefit from this agreement.
Authors will be identified as eligible for open access publishing by their:
Responsible corresponding authors must use their institutional email address when submitting an article for publication.
Responsible corresponding authors should not use personal email addresses (e.g. Hotmail, Gmail). Doing so may result in delayed approval of the article or the article may not be approved to be published open access under the terms of the agreement.
No other APC discounts are offered under this agreement.
The agreement allows for publishing in all journals. The complete title list is available online. If you wish to publish open access, please check to ensure that your desired journal is included.
Hybrid journals that 'flip' to OA during the course of this agreement will remain available for OA publishing for the duration of the agreement.
Articles from authors at participating institutions may be published under the following Creative Commons licenses:
Authors retain all rights as per the CC license.
Further information about licenses is available on the publisher's website.
The Creative Commons licenses allow reuse (some with conditions) while protecting the authors' rights of acknowledgment as authors.
Article approvals are managed by Institutions via RightsLink/Copyright Clearance Centre.
The Company of Biologists does not charge additional fees for page and/or colour fees. Authors should always check each journal’s submission guidelines to ensure that they will not be subject to any other fees or charges.
The following instructions for authors have been provided by the publisher. Further details are available on the publisher’s website.
Corresponding authors at institutions with all Read & Publish agreements can publish Open Access research articles without paying an article processing charge (APC) in our journals.
Step 1: Check if the corresponding author’s institution has a Read & Publish or other transformative Open Access agreement with The Company of Biologists
The following guide to the article submission process applies to corresponding authors at applicable institutions.
If your institution is not applicable, you may wish to contact your library to find out if they are planning to participate soon.
Step 2: Check which journal package your institution has signed up to.
Institutions have a choice of a three or five-journal Read & Publish package. You will see from the list here in which journals you can publish your article Open Access without paying an APC:
Three-journal package: Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology
Five-journal package: Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open
Step 3: Submit your article using our Bench>Press submission systemFollow the link to the submission system for your chosen journal below.
Development
Journal of Cell Science
Journal of Experimental Biology
Disease Models & Mechanisms*
Biology Open*
(*Corresponding authors from Max Planck Society Institutes, University of California campuses and other institutions with five-journal Read & Publish agreements.)If you already have a Bench>Press account, log on using your existing username and password. If you are a first-time user, you will need to create an account.
Enter the “Author Area” and select “Submit a new manuscript”.
The affiliation of the corresponding author is used to determine eligibility for discounted or waived article processing charges so please ensure that the corresponding author is agreed before submission.When providing your contact details, please include your institutional email address, as well as the full name and address of your institution, including country.
If you are submitting an article to Development, Journal of Cell Science or Journal of Experimental Biology, please follow the on-screen instructions and be sure to select “Gold Open Access” and “Read & Publish fee waiver”. (Please note: This step is not required for Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.)
Step 4: What you need to do if your article is accepted
Complete and return the Publication Agreement in your Bench>Press Author Area.We will send you a link to our RightsLink system and, if your institution has a Read & Publish agreement with us, an automatic fee-waiver will be applied. Please note: If your institution has opted-in for the Touch-Free workflow, this is your final step as your institution will receive a copy of the transaction link and will action the funding request. You will receive a confirmation email as soon as your institution confirms your eligibility.
If your institution has not opted for a Touch-Free workflow, you will receive a transaction link. Please select “Seek funding from [name of institution]” and then click “next”. You will be taken to the sign in page of our RightsLink Open Access payment system. If you already have an account, log in using your existing username and password. If you are a first-time user, you will need to create an account.
When you are signed in, you can review your details, approve the terms and conditions, and select ‘Submit for Approval’.
You will receive a confirmation email as soon as your institution confirms that you are eligible for free OA publishing under their Read & Publish agreement with us. A PDF proof of your article will be sent to you for review, and the final approved version will be published under an Open Access CC BY license.
Step 5: Promote and share your article
Your article will be published Open Access. This means you can share the article as widely as you like (via social media and scholarly collaboration networks, by email, in your teaching etc.) in the knowledge that everyone worldwide – regardless of their institution’s licensing arrangements – can read it and share it further.
Please email subscriptions@biologists.com for questions regarding this agreement. Please include your full name, institution, article title, journal name and DOI (if available), and state the reason for your enquiry.
Please contact library staff at your institution for questions related to this agreement. They can provide advice on using the CAUL Open Access Agreements.
