What is Gold for Gold?

Gold for Gold is an innovative experiment from the RSC that enables researchers to publish their paper in RSC journals free of charge, as a Gold Open Access (OA) article, without paying the normal Article Publication Fee (APF).

How did Gold for Gold come about?

The RSC launched a pilot scheme in July 2012 to recognise the needs of researchers, who are being asked to publish Open Access (OA), but who often do not have the funding to pay for it directly. Under this initiative UK institutions that subscribe to RSC Gold (RSC's premium collection of 37 international journals, databases and magazines) are rewarded with voucher codes to have papers OA.
 
Following significant positive feedback and an improvement of processes and procedures, this initiative has gone global and OA voucher codes are now available worldwide to all institutions that subscribe to RSC Gold. In short, the RSC is committed to supporting the funder-led evolution to Gold OA.

Who is eligible to have an article published OA free of charge via Gold for Gold?

Any researcher based at a participating institution subscribing to RSC Gold.

How many articles can an institution publish Gold OA via Gold for Gold?

This will vary. An institution will receive a specific number of voucher codes to publish articles in RSC journals depending on the cost of their RSC Gold subscription.
 
The number of voucher codes is calculated by dividing the subscription the RSC receives from an institution, by £1,600, the Article Publication Charge (APC), for making a full paper OA. For example, if an institution pays £24,000, this would equate to 15 voucher codes (all calculations will be made in GBP£ based on what we receive, i.e. payments in US$ will be converted).
 
One voucher code equates to one article, regardless of journal or article type.

Are there any restrictions on how the voucher codes are used?

Each voucher code can be used to publish a communication, full paper, review or technical note under the RSC's Gold OA option. 

Having met these format criteria, the article must be:

• Accepted for publication in an RSC journal following an institution's renewal or upgrade to RSC Gold for 2013. A voucher code cannot be used until an article has been accepted. Once accepted, if the article is to be published Gold OA free of charge, it is up to the institution's representative to pass on the code to the author to be inserted into the Gold for Gold online acceptance form (see the next 2 FAQs for the role of the institution and the author). Please note all voucher codes, including credits provided during the 2012 pilot scheme are valid until the end of 2013
• New (i.e. voucher codes cannot be used for articles that have already been published)
• Authored by a researcher based at the institution holding the voucher codes        

Who authorises this process at institution-level?

Participating institutions need to nominate a representative to oversee the distribution of Gold for Gold voucher codes. This may be a librarian, or someone within the chemistry/research department. Once decided, the RSC needs to be informed who the representative is by e-mail. We will then let the representative know how many voucher codes are available for their institution, as well as providing the voucher codes themselves.
 
The elected representative is therefore responsible for managing and distributing voucher codes within their institution. 

Please note that voucher codes cannot be used until an article has been accepted for publication. Consequently it would be best practice for the representative to only pass a voucher code to an author once the author's article has been accepted for publication. (for details on the author process, see the next question).

What is the process for authors under this initiative?

Authors should submit articles in the same way they normally do. As with all RSC article submissions, an author should submit his/her article via ScholarOne (our submission and review system). The peer review process will then take place as usual. 

Subject to review, when the author receives notification that their article has been accepted, they should enter the appropriate voucher code in the appropriate box when filling in the Gold for Gold online acceptance form.

This voucher code will be provided to the author by the elected representative who oversees the dissemination of their institution's Gold for Gold voucher codes. (See the previous question for who this representative will be).

Whilst the article is being copyedited, typeset and proofread, the voucher code will be authenticated. Upon publication the paper will then be accessible to all as a Gold OA paper.

What if an institution has used up all of its Gold for Gold voucher codes?

Existing RSC Gold  customers who have used up all of their OA voucher codes can buy further voucher codes at a discount to the APC fee. These are valid until the end of 2014.

What if an Institution does not subscribe to RSC Gold?

This initiative is only available to RSC Gold customers. Authors at non-RSC Gold subscribing institutions can still publish an article via the normal channels, but this is subject to the normal APC fees. Alternatively they can buy voucher codes in bulk at a discount. These are valid until the end of 2014.

Can an author publish their paper 'Green OA'?

Authors may distribute their paper as a 'Green OA' article. However, there is a 12 month embargo before the author manuscript can be released for free access. This is to ensure we can recover our publication costs to maintain our high quality publishing standards. More information about 'Green OA' is available online.

Will Gold for Gold be repeated every year?

This depends on how OA funding develops. Our intention is to support researchers in publishing Gold OA, at a time when many funders are mandating Gold OA, but have yet to confirm how they will fully support this financially.
  
Our decision to repeat Gold for Gold in 2013, and to roll the initiative out to the rest of the World, was based on very positive feedback from the initial UK pilot (July-Dec 2012). If and when funders fully support Gold OA, the need for Gold for Gold may diminish.

Will Gold for Gold articles result in subscription prices reducing?

The RSC will base subscription rates on articles that do not come with an Article Publication Charge (APC). As Gold for Gold voucher codes do not carry an APC, they will therefore not be included in our pricing calculations.