Open Access

There are two routes to Open Access at the RSC:

1. Author pays to make their article Open Access (Gold Open Access)

We give journal authors the choice of making their article Open Access. If you choose this publication route, you will pay an 'article processing fee' after peer-review and acceptance. The final 'article of record' is made available to all, immediately, via our website without any barriers to access.

Please note RSC Gold subscribers receive OA voucher codes to publish Gold OA articles, free of charge, without paying the Article Publication Fee. This is part of the RSC's Gold for Gold initiative. For more information, click on the Gold for Gold link below. 

2. Author deposits accepted article in a non-commercial repository (Green Open Access)

If we have published your article, you can deposit the accepted author form of it in a non-commercial repository. This includes pre-submission (eg ArXiV) and post-acceptance repositories, such as that of your institution or your funding body, plus your organisation's intranet. You can also use your article in your thesis, both in print and online. Green Open Access is also known as Self-Archiving. It complies with the requirements of most of the major funding agencies, such as NIH, RCUK and Wellcome Trust.

An embargo period of 12 months from acceptance applies to the deposition of non-Open Access articles in repositories that are available to the public. 

Full details on all options for deposition, with associated Licence to Publish forms, can be found on our website under the Author Deposition section.