Open access refers to the free and permanent unrestricted online access to scholarly research. Authors retain copyright to their work, and a licence is applied which allows users to download, copy, reuse and distribute data provided the original article is fully cited.
Open access aims to maximise the visibility of research, much of which is publicly funded. Open access differs from free online access as it provides reuse rights provided full attribution is given while authors retain copyright to their work.
We seek to always maintain our standards and ethics of publishing and provide a quality service for all our authors, reviewers and readers throughout the publication process. We apply the same rigorous peer review processes to all our journals, whether full open access or hybrid. The open access invoicing process is handled by administration staff who are not involved with the peer review or acceptance/rejection of the paper.
The Royal Society of Chemistry supports open access models that seek to ensure scholarly publishing activities operate in a long-term, sustainable way:
- Our fundamental goal is to advance the chemical sciences, through the effective dissemination of high quality research content.
- We seek to maintain standards and ethics of publishing and provide a quality service, and to maximise the availability and accessibility of the research that we publish.
- We support any and all sustainable and fair models of access. We believe that the integrity and archiving of scholarly content must be maintained throughout.
- We support gold open access and encourage funding to be made available to support authors during any transition from reader- to author-side payments.
- We support the author's ability to choose where they publish their work to the benefit of the advancement of science. We do not wish authors to be discriminated against if they are unable to pay article processing charges.
- We seek to work closely with other parties, including funders and government agencies, to achieve these goals.
1. Check existing requirements & expectations
Where your funding body or research institute has a policy on open access publication, we aim to support the author’s publishing requirements to comply with these policies.
As a society publisher, our fundamental goal is to advance the chemical sciences through the effective dissemination of high quality research content. We support the author's choice of where and how they publish their work to the benefit of the advancement of science.
During your research and when you are compiling your manuscript, you are advised to check and familiarise yourself with the following information.
Funder
The funding body providing the grant for your research may have certain requirements on how and where an author publishes and archives their research.
The publishing and archiving requirements can be in the form of a mandate or an expectation. Failure to comply with these requirements may affect future funding.
Authors are advised to check closely their funder policy on open access (for example, via the funding body webpages), or to consult their librarian or library webpages.
The SHERPA/JULIET database is a useful resource for searching research funders’ open access policies.
ROARMAP (the Registry of Open Access Repositories Mandatory Archiving Policies) also has funders’ policies.
Please check funder-specific requirements and guidelines below. If you have any questions or want further information, please contact our Customer Services team.
RCUK policy supports both gold and green routes to open access, though RCUK has a preference for immediate gold open access. They state that gold open access articles should be made available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. Find out more about how to publish your article gold open access.
Author & co-author expectations
As an author, you may favour open access publication irrespective of your funding body and research institute requirements. In this case, and if funds for publication are not provided via your funding body or research institute, then you may need to explore alternative means for covering the cost of publication.
Multiple authors & multiple funders
Occasionally a manuscript may have co-authors utilising different research funds and/or across multiple institutes with different publishing requirements. Prior to submitting your manuscript, you are advised to consult with all authors, and if necessary their funding bodies and research institutes, to decide the most appropriate publication route.
2. Choose between gold & green open access
Gold open access is where the version of record (final published article) is made freely available online immediately and permanently after payment of an article processing charge (APC).
Green open access allows a version of the peer-reviewed, accepted manuscript to be made freely available via an institutional or discipline-specific repository.
This table summarises the differences between gold and green open access. The route you choose will affect how you can share your article.
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|
Gold open access | Green open access | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version available | Version of record freely available on the publisher's website | Accepted manuscript freely available in an online repository | ||
| Availability | Open access is immediate | Embargo period usually applied; ours is 12 months 1 | ||
| Charges | APC payable by author, institution or funding body | No fee payable by author | ||
| Creative Commons | CC licence is required | No CC licence required | ||
| Can be published in | Full open access or hybrid journal | Subscription or hybrid journal | ||
| Sharing rights | Accepted manuscript | Version of record | Accepted manuscript | Version of record |
| Share with individuals on request, for personal use | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Use for teaching or training materials | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Use in submissions of grant applications, or academic requirements such as theses or dissertations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Share with a closed group of research collaborators, for example via an intranet or privately via a scholarly communication network | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Share publicly via a scholarly communication network that has signed up to STM sharing principles | ✓ | ✓ | ⌛ | ✕ |
| Share publicly via a personal website, institutional repository or other not-for-profit repository | ✓ | ✓ | ⌛ | ✕ |
| Share publicly via a scholarly communication network that has not signed up to STM sharing principles | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
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Further information on
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⌛ Accepted manuscripts may be distributed via repositories after an embargo period of 12 months. Effective 1st March 2018, we will make the Accepted manuscript version of articles describing research funded by participating CHORUS funders publicly available on our web site after an embargo period of 12 months.
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