Learn about the various ACS Publications programs and initiatives that are helping more researchers than ever choose open access by eliminating barriers to publication, often economic.
Open access (OA) publishing options continue to grow and become more attainable for researchers worldwide. OA is commonly associated with article publishing charges (APCs)—these costs are often covered by research funders or institutions but are not within the economic reach of everyone, particularly those without OA funding support. To address this, ACS Publications offers a variety of programs to help mitigate many of the economic barriers to open access publication, enabling more authors around the world to publish OA.
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Highly Customized Read and Publish Agreements
ACS Sponsored OA Publishing at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions
Discounts and Waivers for Economically Challenged Authors
Highly Customized Read and Publish Agreements
Our read and publish agreements are each highly customized to a group’s needs and developed in partnership with research institutions and consortia. This consultative approach makes them an effective and trusted way to both support access to the full range of essential new research published in ACS journals, and to reach your OA publishing goals.
- Over 1,600 institutions in 43 countries participate in ACS read and publish agreements
- Nationwide read and publish agreements in the UK, Sweden, and Poland have enabled over 90% of articles from authors in those countries to publish as immediate OA
Notably, our recently announced ‘read and green’ approach provides full reading access to ACS journals and supports zero-embargo green open access. This means that authors can deposit their accepted manuscripts in a repository of their choice immediately upon acceptance without any wait time or cost to the researcher. In France, a new read and green agreement between ACS Publications and Couperin allows researchers at 35 participating institutions to choose zero-embargo green open access when publishing their work.
- The agreement between ACS and Couperin covers approximately 60% of ACS authors in France
ACS Sponsored OA Publishing at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions
In January 2023, ACS Publications launched a sponsored read and publish program for primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs)—colleges and universities which do not offer advanced degrees in the chemical sciences but still produce excellent research. More than one year later, this program continues to bolster open access equity at PUIs:
- 170+ articles published under the ACS-sponsored PUI program since January 2023
- Over 180 participating institutions across North America
Discounts and Waivers for Economically Challenged Authors
To help make OA publishing more accessible to authors who don’t qualify for institutional or funder support or who are limited by other financial barriers, ACS Publications provides a generous additional range of discounts and promotions—this includes full or partial waivers for authors in World Bank Group A and Group B countries who wish to publish in our journals.
- 58% of 2023 articles published by ACS authors in the Middle East in were open access
- 70% of 2023 articles published by ACS authors across Africa were published through our waiver program
- Over $4M of article publishing charges have been waived through this program since 2022
These efforts further demonstrate our commitment to making OA more equitable and affordable for researchers worldwide.
Additionally, ACS Publications supports equitable reading access to our journals through the Research4Life program, which provides researchers and institutions in lower and middle-income countries with online access to trusted, peer-reviewed scholarly content.
Discover More Open Access Resources from ACS Publications
Find out more about all of the ways ACS Publications supports open access equity for authors and readers worldwide by visiting our Open Science site.