Company of Biologists
Encyclopedia
The Company of Biologists is a UK based charity and not-for-profit publisher that was established in 1925 with the aim to promote research and study across all branches of biology. The Company publishes currently four academic journals: Development
Development (journal)
Development is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of developmental biology that covers cellular and molecular mechanisms of animal and plant development...
, Disease Models & Mechanisms
Disease Models & Mechanisms
Disease Models & Mechanisms is a peer-reviewed Open Access biomedical journal covering the mechanisms, diagnostics and treatment of human disease...
, Journal of Cell Science
Journal of Cell Science
The Journal of Cell Science is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of cell biology. The journal is published by the The Company of Biologists with 24 annual issues....
and The Journal of Experimental Biology
Journal of Experimental Biology
The Journal of Experimental Biology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of comparative physiology and integrative biology. It is published by The Company of Biologists from editorial offices in Cambridge, United Kingdom.- History :...
. In Autumn 2011, The Company will launch its 5th journal, Biology Open, an open access, online only journal.
As part of its charitable giving, The Company awards grants and travelling fellowships to biologists as well as running a series of Workshops.
The Company's chairman is Sir Tim Hunt
Tim Hunt
Sir Richard Timothy "Tim" Hunt, FRS is an English biochemist.Hunt was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Nurse and Leland H...
.
Brief history
George Parker Bidder III, a prominent zoologist working in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th Century, founded the Company of Biologists in 1925 in a bid to rescue the ailing journal The British Journal of Experimental Biology (now The Journal of Experimental Biology).Bidder felt that the journal was crucial for this emerging area of biology so turned to friends and colleagues, selling them £5 shares in his newly formed Company of Biologists. Such was the Company’s success that, in 1946, Bidder gifted the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science to them, which was later relaunched as Journal of Cell Science
Journal of Cell Science
The Journal of Cell Science is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of cell biology. The journal is published by the The Company of Biologists with 24 annual issues....
.
In 1952 the Company became a registered charity and a year later, in 1953, it accepted the gift of a third journal, the Journal of Embryology and Experimental Morphology (relaunched in 1987 as Development
Development (journal)
Development is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of developmental biology that covers cellular and molecular mechanisms of animal and plant development...
).
In August 2008 Disease Models & Mechanisms
Disease Models & Mechanisms
Disease Models & Mechanisms is a peer-reviewed Open Access biomedical journal covering the mechanisms, diagnostics and treatment of human disease...
was launched to reflect the increasing importance of model organisms in the understanding of human disease. Disease Models & Mechanisms is an Open Access journal.
In Autumn 2011, The Company will launch its 5th journal, Biology Open. BiO will be an online only, Open Access journal that publishes original research across all aspects of the biological sciences.
The Company’s charitable status has the condition that none of the Directors receives any remuneration for their services, so Directors give their time and expertise as part of their contribution to the scientific community.
The company seal
The Company seal features two Egyptian symbols that also appear in the Company’s more modern logo. The well-known Ankh is the Egyptian hieroglyph for life – an appropriate symbol for an organization dedicated to supporting the life sciences. The feather represents the goddess Maat and is generally seen as the symbol for truth, balance and order – Maat weighed souls against her feather to determine whether they would reach the paradise of the afterlife.Charitable activities
The Company provides grants to many scientific societies, large and small. These societies, in turn, use part of the funding to provide travel grants to support postgraduates and junior post doctoral fellows who wish to attend their conferences. Each of the Company’s journals provide Travelling Fellowships to postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows and these are put towards the cost of collaborative visits to other research laboratories. The Company also invites direct applications from postgraduate and post doctoral fellows for travel grants towards the cost of attendance at research conferences, workshops or for skill-acquiring visits to other research labs.As participants in the United Nation’s Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI
HINARI
HINARI is the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative. It was set up by the World Health Organization and major publishers to enable developing countries to access collections of biomedical and health literature. There are over 7000 journal titles available to health institutions in 109...
) and OARE initiatives, The Company makes all its online articles freely available to users in developing countries
In 2010, The Company launched its series of Workshops intended to champion the novel techniques and innovations that will underpin the post-genomic revolution.
Company directors
Chairman- Sir Tim HuntTim HuntSir Richard Timothy "Tim" Hunt, FRS is an English biochemist.Hunt was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Nurse and Leland H...
Directors (Trustees)
- John H. Anstee
- James Briscoe
- Julian Burke
- Andrew Cossins
- Mehul Dattani
- Matthew Freeman
- Rick Horwitz
- Clare Isacke
- Ron Laskey
- Simon Maddrell
- John Noble-Nesbitt
- Martin Raff
- Daniel St Johnston
- Kate Storey
- Cheryl Tickle
- Alan Wilson