Growing open access in ACS journals
ACS publishes over 85 of the most trusted, most cited, and most read journals in the chemical sciences. We want to make sure that every researcher can publish in their preferred journal, and have grown our open access publishing program every year to meet the needs of our authors and readers.
Fully OA journals
OA articles published in fully OA journals
3
2020
2021
2022
2023
2020
2021
2022
2023
12
12
15
5,473
5,298
4,142
3,754
As uptake of open access by the global chemistry community has increased, the number of open access articles published across all ACS journals has grown too. Open access articles accounted for almost a quarter of all original research published in ACS journals in 2023 – a proportion which continues to grow.
Number of articles in ACS journals
Proportion of articles
in ACS journals
2020
2021
2022
2023
2020
2021
2022
2023
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
# Non-OA Articles
# OA Articles
% Non-OA Articles
% OA Articles
85.5%
81.8%
78.4%
76.4%
14.5%
18.2%
21.6%
23.6%
Growth in number and proportion of OA articles published in ACS journals, 2020-2023. Statistics accurate as of June 2024. Article output in 2022 slowed across most publishers due to a fall in original research during COVID lockdowns.
Find out more about publishing open access in ACS journals
Expanding our read and publish program
ACS read and publish agreements – which include full reading access to ACS journals, as well as full or substantially discounted article publishing charges for affiliated authors – are an increasingly popular way for research institutions to support open access publishing goals.
Countries
18
24
28
35
2020
2021
2022
2023
Institutions
1,037
632
392
319
2020
2021
2022
2023
Find out if your institution has an ACS read and publish agreement
Global support for open access
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Researchers
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Europe
61% of articles by European authors published in ACS journals in 2023 are open access: up from 33% in 2020
58% of ACS authors have access to an ACS read and publish agreement
USA and Canada
Number of open access articles from American and Canadian authors has more than doubled from 1.1k in 2020 to 2.9k in 2023
500+ institutions covered by ACS read and publish agreements
Latin America & Caribbean
Over 300 institutions covered by ACS read and publish agreements
Eligible Research4Life members have free access to all ACS journals
Africa
70% of articles by African authors published in ACS journals in 2023 are open access: up from 29% in 2020
Eligible Research4Life members have free access to all ACS journals
Asia, Middle East and Oceania
58% of articles by Middle Eastern authors published in ACS journals in 2023 are open access: up from 34% in 2020
Eligible Research4Life members have free access to all ACS journals
