When science is open, we all benefit. Advances are made faster, research spreads further, and the process of science becomes more transparent. Work through the following questions to see how far you've come on your journey to open science. If you're not sure about any of the terms we use, tap to get more information (you won't lose your place).
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Take your next steps towards open science
Have you published any research articles as open access?
Yes
No
Open access research articles are completely free to read and reuse, meaning your work can reach chemists around the world. Find out more about ACS open access options here.
Have you deposited any of your research articles in an open access repository?
Repositories can be provided by an institution, publisher, or research community. They provide free access to collections of published research from a particular institution, research funder, or subject area.
Have you ever completed a data availability statement?
Data availability statements tell readers how to access the research data used in your article. All ACS journals either require or encourage authors to provide data availability statements—find out more about our Research Data Policy here.
Have you posted a pre-publication version of any of your research articles to a preprint server?
Preprint servers aggregate pre-publication versions of manuscripts. They can be a useful way of circulating drafts of your research articles for community feedback prior to the peer review process. Find out more about ChemRxiv, the preprint server for chemistry, here.
Have you ever participated in transparent or open peer review, either as an author or as a reviewer?
Transparent peer review publishes reviewer reports and author responses alongside the final paper, so readers can see the vital impact constructive peer review has in shaping cutting-edge research. Find out more about ACS' transparent peer review pilot here.
Have you ever made a conference presentation available on an open access conference platform?
Uploading your conference poster or presentation to an open access platform means that your work can be easily discovered, accessed, and cited in perpetuity - extending the reach and impact of conference posters and presentations. The ACS SciMeetings platform houses more than 250,000 posters, presentations, and papers, along with DOIs so that your work can be easily cited—find out more here.
Many people's first steps towards open science are with publishing in an open access journal and depositing their research articles in a repository. All ACS journals offer open access options - and your institution and/or research funder may have an agreement with ACS to cover any open access publication charges. You can search our list of read and publish agreements to see if your institution participates.. ACS also provides automatic deposition of published articles in many institutional or subject repositories. Check your preferred journal's Instructions for Authors for more information. acsopenscience.org/researchers/open-access/
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What’s your next step?
Once you've made your research articles available in open access, your next step is to provide public access to your research data. This can help readers better understand your work, and improves transparency and reproducibility - and in some cases, your research funder may require you to make your data freely available. ACS' Open Data Policy covers its full family of journals - check your preferred journal's Instructions for Authors for more information on their specific recommendations or requirements for data availability. acsopenscience.org/acs-policies/#open-data-policy
Preprints are a valuable way to gather early feedback from the community on your work ahead of publication, and to establish lines of enquiry that you and your colleagues are exploring. Why not post a preprint of your next article to ChemRxiv? This preprint server for chemistry is free to use, and is supported by five national chemistry societies - including the ACS. You can also submit to the ACS journal of your choice direct from ChemRxiv. acsopenscience.org/open-science/chemrxivtm/
Transparent peer review provides a valuable learning experience for researchers, who benefit from being able to see how reviewer feedback is used to shape the final article. ACS offers transparent peer review in a selection of journals - the next time you submit a research article, or act as a reviewer for ACS, check to see if you're able to participate in transparent peer review. acsopenscience.org/open-science/transparent-peer-review/
Open conference platforms allow you to make your poster or presentation available to a global audience. Your contributions are issued with a DOI, meaning they can be discovered and cited far beyond the meeting where they were originally presented. ACS provides SciMeetings, a fully open conference platform for the chemical sciences. SciMeetings can accept text, slides, and multimedia file types with the goal of making your early-stage research accessible faster and to a broader audience. acsopenscience.org/open-science/scimeetings
You're an open science expert! Congratulations for your efforts in making science more open - keep up the good work, and keep checking the ACS Open Science website for more tools and resources to help you and your colleagues continue to embrace open science in your work. acsopenscience.org
