Company of Biologists
Type
Transformative agreement (via CAUL).
Status
Active since 1 January 2022 (for articles accepted during the term of the agreement).
Current agreement term
1 January 2026 - 31 December 2026.
Journal coverage
Unlimited open access publishing for University of Melbourne corresponding authors in all Company of Biologists journals. This includes the publisher’s three hybrid journals (Development, Journal of Cell Science, and Journal of Experimental Biology) and two open access journals (Biology Open and Disease Models and Mechanisms).
Covered journals are reflected in our 2026 all covered journals spreadsheet. They will also be included in CAUL's 2026 title list.
Eligible authors
To be eligible, the article's corresponding author must, at the time of submission, provide their University of Melbourne affiliation. This does not need to be their first affiliation; any affiliation order is acceptable.
Eligible article types
- Research articles.
How to use the agreement
Submissions should be made using the Company of Biologists's Bench>Press submission platform.
When possible, corresponding authors should use their unimelb email address (@unimelb.edu.au or @student.unimelb.edu.au). As advised by CoB: "When providing your contact details, please include your institutional email address, as well as the full name and address of your institution, including country" (CAUL).
Processes may differ between journals. According to CoB: "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.)"
When your article has been accepted for publication, follow the link provided by CoB to their RightsLink system. As we have opted for a touch-free workflow, the fee waiver should be applied automatically.
For details on how to use the Company of Biologists agreement, see the "Open access workflow" section of the agreement's CAUL R&P Guide page.
Further information
Did you know?
The Company of Biologists plants a tree in a UK forest for each research or review article they publish. Each tree is represented virtually in the Forest of Biologists.
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