ACS-Sponsored Path to OA Publication
ACS is sponsoring open access publication for authors at primarily undergraduate institutions.
How ACS is helping even more institutions on their path to open access publishing
Authors at participating Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (those which do not offer advanced degrees in the sciences) can now publish their research in any ACS journal completely free of charge under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 open access license.
This offer is available for the duration of an institution’s All Publications Package agreement with ACS Publications, meaning that corresponding authors at these institutions can publish in ACS journals without cost and with the convenience of automatically meeting most funders’ open access publication requirements. Authors that are collaborating with researchers from another organization should confirm that they will act as the submitting corresponding author to qualify for this program.
This ACS-sponsored read and publish agreement helps institutions sustainably support the transition to open science by growing the amount of work their researchers can publish open access while also maintaining full access to ACS subscription content. This flexible approach allows institutions of all sizes to actively participate in the open science movement.
For Authors: Five easy steps to free open access publishing with ACS
Visit our open access page for researchers to learn more about publishing open with ACS.
Make your research articles immediately and freely accessible in any ACS journal
Step One
Submit your article to the ACS journal of your choice, making sure you are the submitting corresponding author.
Step Two
Ensure your institution affiliation is correct on your profile in the ACS Paragon Plus submission system.
Step Three
When your manuscript has been accepted for publication, you will be automatically prompted with the option to publish open access under the ACS Sponsored Read and Publish agreement.
Step Four
Confirm that “Yes, I wish to publish open access as per the agreement” and complete the Journal Publishing Agreement.
Step Five
Your article will be made immediately available as open access upon publication under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. There are no charges to pay and no further action required by either you or your institution.
For Librarians: Tell your researchers about this program
Download and distribute our flyer to help spread the word to researchers at your institution.
Schools who acquire their subscription through consortia are not automatically opted in to the program. Please contact ACS Publications or ask your consortium to speak with us to enroll your institution in the program.
Frequently Asked Questions
PUIs are defined as institutions which do not grant advanced degrees (Master’s or Ph.D./Sci.D.) in the sciences. Over 130 PUIs have enrolled into the program as of March 2023.
Institutions that grant advanced degrees in the sciences, private research organizations, and PUIs which do not currently subscribe to ACS’ All Publications Package are not eligible to participate in this program. PUIs that receive access to ACS’ All Publications Package as part of a consortium may not have been automatically enrolled in the program but are eligible to participate upon request. Please contact ACS Publications or your consortium for more information.
Institutions that grant advanced degrees and private research organizations typically have larger research programs that attract significant federal funding and research partnerships with third parties. Researchers based at these institutions typically already have access to resources at the funder or institution level that support making the version of record available in open access. Until now, researchers at PUIs have not been able to reliably access the same level of support for open access publication.
Broad access to trusted scientific content forms the foundation for good research. Despite considerable growth in the uptake of open access, the majority of high-quality research is still captured in subscription journals. This program gives researchers at PUIs the best chance to succeed and it provides an added value to the school and library for their subscription investment.
Yes, we encourage institutions to work with their consortium and notify them of intent to participate in this program. Institutions may also contact us directly through their sales representative to enroll in the program.
This program will last for the duration of an institution’s All Publications Package subscription. When the subscription access ends, sponsored OA publishing for corresponding authors at the institution will also end.
Co-authors can be affiliated with any institution globally. However, the submitting corresponding author needs to be affiliated with a participating school in order to publish their original research article open access at no additional cost.
No. The intent of this program is to sponsor the publication of original research articles originating from authors working at primarily undergraduate institutions who are likely to get their funding from bodies encouraging open publication, such as NSF.
All original research articles published under this program will automatically receive a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license granting broad reuse rights, provided the appropriate attribution is given. This is one of the most common open access licenses and is compliant with the most stringent open access/public access mandates used by both federal and private funding bodies.
No. All ACS journals are included in the program.
No. There is no cap on the number of original research articles that corresponding authors based at participating institutions can publish, as long as their institution continues to subscribe to the All Publications Package.
No. Editorial decisions are made independently of authors’ choice to participate in open access publishing. ACS journals remain highly selective, with a focus on publishing the best science in their respective fields, and the decision to publish open access is made only after a manuscript has been accepted. Once an original research article is accepted, the author chooses whether to publish open access when they sign the journal publishing agreement.
When a qualifying corresponding author opts into open access, ACS will automatically cover all applicable publication charges. There is no cost to the researcher or institution.
None. Providing the corresponding author correctly affiliates themselves with your institution in Paragon Plus (ACS Publications’ manuscript submission system) at the time of submission, eligible manuscripts will be identified automatically. After their original research article has been accepted for publication in an ACS journal, the corresponding author will be prompted to choose open access publication when signing the journal publishing agreement.