How open access works and why it matters
Building an open future that works for everyone
It’s our mission to help you make the world a better place. Open access is crucial to achieving this. We believe that it is the key to building a fairer, more equitable society. One where everyone can access and benefit from discoveries – including researchers, funders, policymakers and the general public.
What could you achieve in a world that is open to all? It’s time to find out.
The benefits of open access
Those of you who already publish with us will know the benefits that come from choosing our journals. Publishing open access includes them all.
Multidisciplinary collaboration. Scientists in all disciplines and subjects can access and inspire each other.
Available outside academia. Funders, policymakers and the general public all have access to new research.
Boost citation potential. Readily available work can be read and cited easily by more people.
High quality peer review. You can expect a simple process and fair and rigorous peer review.
Keep copyright as standard. You (or your employer) retain the copyright to your article when you publish open access.
Compliant with OA mandates. We make it fast and easy to meet the requirements of your funding body.
How it works
Your open access options
Choosing to publish open access is easy and straightforward – and it is possible in every Royal Society of Chemistry journal. Find out how.
Open access payments and funding
Our range of institutional agreements, discounts, waivers and transparent pricing mean you can choose to publish open access with confidence.
Sharing your research
We can help you increase your impact by sharing your research with as many people as possible, including scientists, funders, policymakers and public.
Our commitment to open science
Our purpose is to help the chemical science community make the world a better place; we envision a world in which the chemical sciences fulfil their potential as a force for good. We strive to work with our community to break down barriers to advancing the chemical sciences and to ensure appropriate equitable, global access to knowledge and data.
We believe that the best ways to enable chemical scientists to make the world a better place are through enabling greater access to knowledge, ensuring that tools and data are presented in a useful way, and that data is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), that practices such as peer review are transparent, that research is carried out ethically and with integrity, that collaboration is encouraged and that ultimately more people are enabled and encouraged to participate in science.
As a group, these principles form the basis of the open science agenda – an agenda that is currently being defined by stakeholders from around the world. Our goal as a learned society, professional body, and publisher is to work with our community and stakeholders, including chemical science researchers across sectors, funders, and policymakers - to develop our vision for Open Chemistry. Together, we’ll uncover barriers, assess motivations, pinpoint catalysts for change, and explore various pathways to an open future that best serves chemistry and society.
Our vision
This is just the beginning. Open access can lead us to a fairer society by making impactful research available to everyone. No matter who you are or where you live, you deserve to access and benefit from new discoveries. And we partner with the best people to make this a reality:
