Publisher's Comment
Abstract
Welcome to the Journal of Biocommunication issue 44-1. The issue represents our first issue of 2020 and our eighth issue designed for our new mixed publishing format that offers our authors traditional publishing as well as open access options.
Our Journal is dedicated to the dissemination of high-quality research, and we accept manuscripts, which are of interest to the broader bioscience community. We welcome authors reporting on their high-impact discoveries, cutting-edge research, and new imaging methodologies. Our professional organizations and the Journal are critical for generating open access content of scholarly, intellectual, and creative merit.

License agreement and author copyright
Access to the full text of JBC articles is free and unrestricted on jbiocommunication.org. Authors are required to assign one of two types of licenses when a manuscript is accepted for publication. Under the terms of that agreement, authors retain copyright to their text and figures, but grant the JBC a perpetual license to publish the manuscript. The JBC offers authors a choice in publishing and licensing of their article:
- Exclusive License to Publish: Articles are freely available to the public to read through JBC online platforms, but this traditional license does not grant the public any reuse or derivatives. Permissions must be obtained from the author for any third party use.
- Open Access License: Articles are freely available to the public to read AND also to reuse without permission or fees as defined by a Creative Commons license.
For open access licensed articles, permitted third party (re)use is defined by either a Creative Commons user license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (abbreviated: CC BY-NC-ND), or by a Creative Commons user license: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY). This reuse is for non-commercial purposes, and it lets others distribute and copy the article, and include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.
Please select one of the licenses, fill out the document, and submit a signed copy to: upload.JBC_agr.tb10c8mf3x@u.box.com
JBC’s policies are compatible with all major funders open access and self-archiving mandates. Authors at their discretion, or in compliance with a funder-mandated open access policy, may grant to the general public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the manuscript subject to the terms of the Creative Commons license.