Gold for Gold scheme to end 2017

The open access (OA) landscape is evolving. We’re adapting our approach so that we’re in the best position to shape the future of open access publishing for the benefit of our community.

With this in mind, 2017 is the right time to bring our Gold for Gold pilot to an end.

Our initial intention was for these vouchers to be short-term support, to help researchers at a time when funding for gold open access was inconsistent.

The scheme was a success. In the four years it’s been running, Gold for Gold vouchers have been used to publish 7,982 open access articles in our journals. The scheme has sparked discussion about open access among the chemistry community, helped libraries to implement OA infrastructure and introduced our authors to the benefits of OA publishing.

It also highlighted that this approach doesn’t work for everyone.

Since we started the pilot scheme in 2012, the open access landscape has changed dramatically, both in terms of the funding now available in different regions around the world, and the most appropriate ways to offer support.

It’s now clear that the more sustainable approach is to stop the voucher scheme, and instead focus on developing more open access journals in which to publish high quality research.

We will still accept 2016 vouchers (valid for use with any article published in 2016) until March 2017.

If you have any questions about how these updates will affect you, please contact your Account Manager or send our Sales team an email using the form on this page.

Gold for Gold FAQ

Are there any restrictions on how Gold for Gold voucher codes are used?

Each voucher code can be used to publish a communication, full paper, review or technical note.

Having met the format criteria, the article must be:

• Accepted for publication in one of our journals. 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
• Accepted in the year of your institution’s renewal/subscription to RSC Gold, shown as the year of the voucher (for example 2016 voucher codes can be used only for 2016 accepted articles)
• Authored by a researcher based at the institution holding the voucher codes

Please note vouchers will not be valid for 2017 RSC Advances articles, even if the article is accepted in 2016. This is because from 2017 RSC Advances is no longer part of the Gold package which provides the vouchers.

When do 2016 vouchers expire?

We will accept 2016 vouchers until 31 March 2017. The vouchers will only be valid for use with articles accepted in 2016.

Will new voucher codes be issued for 2017 articles?

From 2017 we will no longer be running the Gold for Gold initiative.

Gold for Gold enabled the Royal Society of Chemistry to support researchers in publishing gold OA at a time when funding for gold OA was inconsistent.

Since we started the initiative in 2012, the open access landscape has changed dramatically, both in terms of the funding now available in different regions around the world, and the most appropriate ways to offer support.

We are now adapting our approach so that we are in the best position to shape the future of open access publishing for the benefit of our community.

What other options are available to support authors publishing open access in 2017?

We have launched a new pilot, Read & Publish, to support the transition to OA publishing, in line with the Wellcome Trust requirements. Corresponding authors at institutions with Read & Publish can publish gold OA in all hybrid Royal Society of Chemistry journals. At the same time, the institution gains access to all of our hybrid journal portfolio content. For more information about this intitiative please contact sales@rsc.org.

In 2016 we announced the transition to OA for RSC Advances. From issue 1 the world’s largest chemistry journal, RSC Advances will be Gold OA. We have set the APCs for this journal at a competitive level of £750 to ensure it is affordable to all authors.

Authors choosing to publish their article gold OA can pay an article processing charge on acceptance. We believe APCs support a sustainable open access model for open access publication by contributing to the costs of publishing the article.