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Publishing with ACS and Meeting Public Access Requirements

Researchers around the globe who receive public funding are increasingly required to make their findings immediately available to the public. Learn how ACS Publications can help.

Rapidly Evolving Landscape

Today, more and more researchers are subjected to funder and institution mandates to comply with public access. ACS Publications offers multiple pathways to support authors in meeting these requirements—while continuing to publish in the world’s most trusted journals.

Below are options available to ACS authors to ensure compliance.

Take Advantage of Your Institution’s Open Access Agreement

More than 1,700 institutions worldwide have an open access agreement with ACS, providing seamless support for authors seeking to share their findings most broadly and meet public access mandates.

All ACS institutional open access agreements include provisions that allow authors to fulfill public access requirements at no cost to them. This includes the ability to deposit either the accepted manuscript or the final published article in a repository of your choice, depending on the type of open access agreement.

Search for your institution to see if it has an open access agreement with ACS and learn how to take advantage of the open access benefits, at no cost to you.

Search Institutional Agreements

Choose Gold Open Access

Whether you’re submitting to a hybrid ACS journal or one of our fully open access journals, you have the option to publish your article under a gold open access license.

Publishing gold open access means your final article is:

  • Freely available to all readers on the ACS Publications platform.
  • Eligible for deposit into repositories as either the final article of record or the accepted manuscript.

Article publishing charges (APCs) are eligible for coverage by most major funders. We encourage authors to verify with their funder or grant administrator to confirm eligibility.

View journal-specific APC pricing options. Almost all authors qualify for discounts, including deep discounts for submitting corresponding authors from countries classified by the World Bank as low-income economies.

Choose Zero-Embargo Green Open Access

For a more cost-effective and flexible option, authors publishing in an ACS hybrid journal can choose zero-embargo green open access by paying an article development charge (ADC) upon acceptance.

This option enables you to:

  • Retain copyright.
  • Deposit your accepted manuscript into a public repository immediately upon acceptance, with no embargo period after publication.
  • Be in compliance with all known funder mandates for public access.

Learn more about zero-embargo green open access and pricing.

Seek Support from Your Library

Your institutional library is a valuable resource when navigating public access requirements.

Librarians can help:

  • Interpret funder mandates.
  • Guide you through open access options.
  • Maximize your eligibility under existing institutional agreements.

Even if your institution does not yet have an ACS open access agreement, expressing your interest to the library helps inform future support.

For support with an existing open access agreement or a manuscript in progress, contact our OA Operations Team. To discuss options for an institutional open access agreement, find your regional ACS representative, or click the button below.

Discuss Institutional OA Options

Read More About ACS and Open Science

The ACS Axial Blog has a wealth of information on our investments in open science, including stories of the real world impact on researchers.

Supporting Researchers Through Accelerated Public Access Mandates
Learn how ACS Publications is supporting researchers and institutions to meet new federal public access mandates through a temporary sponsored program and expanded open access agreements, including new read and green agreements.
Understanding Your Green Open Access Options With ACS Publications
Green open access (self-archiving a manuscript in an institutional, funder, or subject repository) is a widely accepted practice in research communication. We know that authors aren't always aware which pathways are open to them, and this article aims to provide additional guidance.
Zero-Embargo Green Open Access: A Look Back at the First 18 Months
It’s been just over a year and a half since ACS Publications introduced a new and more accessible route to enable immediate author self-archiving of research articles. In this post, we look at how it’s expanded authors’ open access options since November 2023.
How ACS Publications is Supporting Open Access Growth in the United States
ACS Publications has read and publish agreements with more than 500 institutions in the United States. Read more about how these agreements have resulted in a 147% growth in open access publishing from US authors.