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, the article processing charge is currently waived for all authors.
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RSC Advances: an article processing charge will be applied.
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Nanoscale Advances: the article processing charge is waived for all authors until mid-2021.
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RSC Chemical Biology is a full open access journal and the article processing charge is waivered for all authors until mid-2022.
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 (APCs)
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
| Article type | APC |
|---|---|
| Communication | £1,000 (+tax if applicable) |
| Paper | £1,600 (+tax if applicable) |
| Review-type article | £2,500 (+tax if applicable) |
Please contact us if you are unsure which article type applies to your article.
Full gold open access journals
RSC Advances
RSC Advances is a full open access journal and specific APCs apply.
Chemical Science
Chemical Science is a full open access journal and the APC is currently waived for all authors.
Nanoscale Advances
Nanoscale Advances is a full open access journal and the APC is waived for all authors until mid-2021
RSC Chemical Biology
RSC Chemical Biology is a full open access journal and the article processing charge is waivered for all authors until mid-2022.
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
Please include your membership number in the online application form when requested to do so. We will then apply a 15% discount automatically. 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. 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.
Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences (PPS)
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
We do not wish authors to be discriminated against if they are unable to pay article processing charges (APCs). Corresponding authors who are based in core offer countries classified as Group A and Group B by Research4Life are eligible to apply for a full APC waiver.
You will be given the option to apply for a waiver after you have signed your open access licence. You will need to provide the following details:
- country of residence and affiliation of all authors
- location the research was conducted
- confirmation of all research grant funding received – this should include details of any funding body which has stipulated mandatory open access publication
The open access payment process is handled by administration staff who are not involved with the peer review or acceptance/rejection of the paper and information about how the publication charge is covered will be kept confidential.
Gold for Gold
Our Gold for Gold pilot scheme has ended. Find out more information or contact the Customer Services team if you have any queries.
Customer Services team
- Tel:
- +44 (0) 1223 432176
- Email:
- Send us an email
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