The Royal Society of Chemistry provides all authors with the option to make their article gold open access through payment of an article processing charge on acceptance in any of our journals.
A gold open access article is free to access online immediately and permanently in its final published form (version of record).
We support gold open access, and encourage funding to be made available to support authors. We ensure that authors can comply with the open access policies of their funding bodies by providing a choice of licence and deposition services to PubMed and PubMed Central. Read more on our position on open access.
All articles that are published gold open access are subject to our rigorous peer review, professional editing and production services and will be freely accessible to all on our website. An open access symbol will be visible alongside your article to show readers it is free to access.
How do I publish gold open access?
1. Submit your article
There are two types of journal that offer open access:
Full gold open access journals
All of the articles are gold open access, usually after payment of an article processing charge. The content is available free online for everyone to read. Our full open access journals are:
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Chemical Science: our flagship journal, and there are no fees charged for publication.
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Digital Discovery: article processing charges are waived for all authors until mid-2024.
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Energy Advances: article processing charges are waived for all authors until mid-2024.
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EES Catalysis: article processing charges are waived for all authors until mid-2025.
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Environmental Science: Advances: article processing charges are waived for all authors until mid-2024.
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Environmental Science: Atmospheres: article processing charges are waived for all authors until mid-2023.
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Materials Advances: article processing charges are waived for all authors until 1st July 2022.
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Nanoscale Advances: article processing charges will be applied.
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RSC Advances: article processing charges will be applied.
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RSC Chemical Biology: article processing charges are waived for all authors until 1st July 2022.
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RSC Sustainability: article processing charges are waived for all authors until mid-2025.
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Sensors & Diagnostics: article processing charges are waived for all authors until mid-2024.
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Sustainable Food Technology: article processing charges are waived for all authors until mid-2025.
Hybrid journals
Traditional subscription journals in which some of the articles are freely available if the author has chosen to publish gold open access. A subscription is required to read the remaining articles.
All our journals (with the exception of the full gold open access journals) are hybrid.
Articles in hybrid journals can be made gold open access at any time after acceptance, even after publication. Please contact the Customer Services team if you wish to change your article from our standard licence to publish to an open access licence.
Related links
View a list of all our current journals
Submit your article to one of our journals
2. Choose a licence
Once your article has been accepted for publication you will be asked to agree to a licence to publish.
If you have submitted to a hybrid journal, you will be asked if you want to select gold open access publication and you will be given a choice of open access licence.
If you have submitted to a full open access journal, you must publish gold open access and you will be given a choice of open access licence.
We offer industry-standard Creative Commons licensing for open access publication in all of our journals. These licences have more flexible terms for re-use and distribution of a work than a standard licence to publish, enabling our authors to fulfil funding body requirements.
Copyright
Copyright is retained by authors (or their employers) when an open access licence is accepted, as with our standard licence to publish agreement. Full and accurate attribution to the original author is required for any re-use of the work.
Licence options
We offer a choice of two Creative Commons licences. Creative Commons is a global non-profit organisation, offering free open access licences. Further information is available on the Creative Commons website. Authors may select the appropriate licence according to their funding body and research institute requirements or their personal choice.
Allows other users to reuse, distribute, and build upon the work, even commercially, with full original author attribution.
Download CC-BY licence example formAllows other users to reuse, distribute, and build upon the work, non-commercially, with full original author attribution.
3. Payment
Gold open access usually requires payment of an article processing charge (APC). See below for more information about:
Article processing charges (APCs)
Discounts
Waivers
Gold for Gold
Article processing charges
The Royal Society of Chemistry supports a sustainable model for open access publication. APCs support this model by contributing to the costs of publishing open access articles.
Our APC is all inclusive, and:
- Makes your article freely available online, permanently
- Includes your choice of Creative Commons licence (CC BY or CC BY-NC) at no extra cost
- It is not a submission charge, so you only pay if your article is accepted for publication. There are no additional colour or page charges
- The invoicing process is handled by administration staff who are not involved with the peer review or acceptance/rejection of your paper
- Enables us to provide excellent service for authors, learn more about the benefits of publishing with us
| Hybrid journals | APC |
|---|---|
| Non-review journals | £1,800 |
| Review journals (ChemSocRev and NPR) | £2,500 |
| Gold open access journals - once waiver period ends (except RSC Advances) | APC |
|---|---|
| All countries (with exemptions below) | £1,600 |
| India, Indonesia and Philippines | £800 |
| RSC Research4Life countries (see list here) | APC waived |
| RSC Advances | APC |
|---|---|
| All countries (with exemptions below) | £850 |
| India, Indonesia and Philippines | £500 |
| RSC Research4Life countries (see list here) | APC waived |
* The membership discount does not apply to the reduced rate countries (India, Indonesia and Philippines).
* Please see section 1 above for a list of our gold open access journals.
Refunds
We may, upon request, and at our discretion, refund an APC or offer a credit towards future open access publication.
Voucher codes
If you would like to use an open access voucher code, please enter a valid code when you are prompted for payment details.
Discounts
We offer a variety of discounts on APCs. The following sections describe who is eligible and how you can claim a discount.
Members of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Corresponding authors who are members of the Royal Society of Chemistry are eligible for a 15% discount on APCs. To claim the discount, please include your membership number in the online application form when requested to do so. Find out more about how to join the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Members of journal owner societies
The Royal Society of Chemistry publishes some journals that are co-owned by other member societies. Corresponding authors who are members of these societies are eligible for a 15% discount on APCs for the relevant journal. A list of the eligible societies can be found on the following journal web pages.
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP)
To claim the discount, please indicate your membership on the online application form when requested to do so. You may be asked to provide proof of membership.
Waivers
The RSC is committed to levelling the playing field for global researchers and increasing inclusion and diversity. Corresponding authors who are based in countries classified as Group A and Group B by Research4Life are eligible to receive a full APC waiver.
Other authors who are required to publish under a gold open access model, but have no access to funds to pay the APC can request a discount or waiver; these will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Discounts or waivers will only be granted where authors can demonstrate a requirement to publish under a gold open access model. Other RSC journals should be considered if funds to pay the APC are not available and open access publication is not a requirement.
During the submission process authors will be required to identify if they expect to qualify for a waiver. Upon acceptance, APCs will be waived automatically for papers qualifying for a waiver under the Research4Life scheme. Other authors requesting a waiver will be required to apply after having signed an open access licence and will need to provide the following:
- Evidence of any stipulation for mandatory open access publication
- Country of residence and affiliation of all authors
- Location the research was conducted
The open access payment process is handled by RSC staff who are not involved with the peer review or acceptance/rejection of the paper, to ensure complete independence from editorial decisions. Information about how the publication charge is covered will be kept confidential.
Gold for Gold
Our Gold for Gold pilot scheme has ended. Please get in touch using the Customer Services team details on this page if you have any queries.
Customer Services team
- Tel:
- +44 (0) 1223 432176
- Email:
- Send us an email
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