The Council of Australian University Librarians (which manages university-journal relations) reports an open access deal with the (UK) Microbiology Society.

The agreement is for ANZ university libraries so inclined to pay a single fee that allows staff to publish in and all to read the society’s six journals. It includes “unlimited access” to all content behind paywalls, back to 1947, for reading, and text-data mining.

CAUL chair Jill Benn (UWA Librarian) calls it, “a significant step towards achieving full and immediate open access to research in the region. It is CAUL’s first transformative/transitional agreement with a publisher and we are thrilled it is with a not-for-profit organisation committed to open science.”

Back in August CAUL announced “transformative read and publish agreement(s)” were being negotiated with “three-learned society” publishers and “a significant medium-sized university press.” (CMM August 21). One down, three to go.