Penn Libraries Open Access Agreements for Penn Authors: Company of Biologists

The Penn Libraries has a three-year (2024-2026) agreement with the Company of Biologists (CoB) for Penn authors to publish articles open access with no article processing fees (APCs).

Which journals are included under the agreement?

• This agreement covers open access publishing in all CoB hybrid (subscription-based) journals and gold (completely open access) journals. 
• The corresponding author of a submitted article must be a Penn affiliated author.
• The Penn Libraries agreement includes all five Company of Biologists titles:
• Development - Hybrid 
• Journal of Cell Science - Hybrid  
• Journal of Experimental Biology - Hybrid  
• Disease Models & Mechanisms – Gold 
• Biology Open - Gold 

What types of articles are eligible under this agreement? 

• Articles related to original research are eligible under our agreement. 
• Examples of articles not considered for OA publishing include but are not limited to:
  • Review papers
  • Commentaries
  • Correspondence
  • Corrections
  • Additions
  • Posters 

How can I tell if I'm an eligible author?

Only articles where the corresponding author is affiliated with Penn are eligible under the agreement. 

• CHOP researchers cross-affiliated with Penn are eligible under our agreements but MUST select UPenn (and not CHOP) as their affiliation when submitting articles.  

Authors must use their institutional email address to be identified as eligible under our agreement.

My article and I are both eligible.  Do I have to publish open access?

When an article is accepted for publication and the author is matched to our agreement, they will receive a link to a payment workflow where they can choose to request APC funding through our agreement or pay the APC themselves, or (in the case of hybrid journals) choose to publish the article as subscription-only. 

• If the author declines OA funding, the Company of Biologists will confirm with them to make sure they are aware of the option. 

What do you need to know when submitting your paper?

Since Penn is part of the Read & Publish agreement with CoB, there is no need to check first. 

• 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. Each journal has its own submission site. 
• 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.)

What you need to do if your article is accepted?

When your article is accepted for publication, complete and return the Publication Agreement in your Bench>Press Author Area.

• CoB will then send you a transaction link for the payment workflow. Please select “Seek funding from University of Pennsylvania” 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."
• All articles published OA under this transformative agreement are published using a CC-BY license version 4.0. 
• 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.

What happens after my article is published?

For each Research Article or Review article CoB publishes, they will plant a tree in a UK forest.  Here is more information on the Forest of Biologists.