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Charting a new course

Committing to OA means moving away from paywalled content supported by subscription and licensing fees. Instead, content will be free to read and the majority of our income will be paid for by a combination of institutional OA agreements, which see institutions pay a collective fee to cover article processing charges (APCs), and individual author payments in, what we hope will be rare, instances where we are unable to secure institutional agreements.

This is the publishing equivalent of turning an oil tanker 180 degrees while simultaneously changing the fuel onboard into solar panels. What’s more, we are doing it against the clock. On 31 October 2022, we declared we will make all wholly RSC-owned journals OA by 2028, becoming the first major chemistry publisher to make such a commitment. Rather than it being seen as a Halloween horror, our announcement generated significant interest.

“We had a lot of people – other publishers – getting in touch with us asking how we're planning to make our transition, and there was lots of enthusiasm,” Sara says.

“Within our journal community, it was somewhat split by region but, on the whole, most of our community was positive about open access generally. There are always concerns that we would be achieving open access through an author pay model but that is not what we're trying to do.”

Global benefits to OA revolution

Increased visibility and impact of research, wider access to knowledge, and greater opportunities for international collaboration are just some of the common benefits. However, the global nature of this publishing revolution presents different opportunities in different parts of the world.

OA represents a golden chance to level the playing field for the Global South by going some way to addressing resource inequality by removing a significant cost barrier. It will also promote work from underrepresented communities, expand capacity and boost skills development, all of which bring global benefits. In Europe and North America, OA publishing helps to meet compliance mandates from funding agencies and our decision has been warmly welcomed.

While some regions are still getting to grips with OA, many academics, institutions and countries are on board with the concept. We have already signed OA agreements with more than 1,000 institutions around the world and are working hard to pen further deals.

“It's going to affect various regions of the globe differently, which is why we're having different conversations in each region,” Sara says. “These depend very much on where a country is in terms of their open access policies, in terms of their funder mandates, in terms of the infrastructure that their institutions have set up.”

She adds: “By 2028, we hope that the majority of authors are going to be supported by institutional agreements but between now and then, we’re in a tricky interim period. Developing and negotiating new institutional OA deals takes time, so in the short term, we’ll have to continue to rely on author charges to support OA while we work to develop and sign the types of OA agreement that will support our authors in the future.

“There's a recognition that the next few years are going to be more challenging and that they're not going to be representative of our end goal, but that we're always keen to work with authors to find solutions for them to publish in our journals.”

Short-term exertion will bring long-term prosperity

Support exists for researchers who might be unable to pay their APCs (we automatically waive APCs for authors from Research4Life countries) and there is also currently the option to publish behind a paywall in our hybrid journals. The ultimate goal, though, is to remove all paywalls and for institutions to support authors with OA fees.

Sara acknowledges our immediate focus is to work with librarians to secure OA deals. She has also had discussions with policy professionals in major economies, including India and Japan, and appeared at conferences around the globe in the last 12 months.

Plenty of progress has already been made but there are still unanswered questions. The role of industry is a major one, while developing a fair system for institutions that don’t publish is another.

Like many a British band, a key target for us this year is cracking North America and figuring out the best way to reach key audiences there. Meanwhile, work will continue to ensure the views of the Global South are represented in the industry evolution.

Big plans are in store for the coming year and Sara sees a ‘clear direction’ when reflecting on the changes within the publishing landscape. She believes there is a lot for everyone to be excited about.

“We believe that open access is the right thing but there's also the aspect that the publishing industry as a whole is moving towards open access,” she adds. “Funders are demanding open access, so the train’s already left the station and it’s full steam ahead – we need to adapt and change. It’s no longer a question of ‘if’, but when and how do we adapt such that we can remain sustainable.

“When we made the commitment, what we were really doing, in effect, was saying ‘we want to take charge of this movement and lead the way so we can shape what the future looks like for open access.’ We don’t just want to be reactive.

“Our chemistry community is at the heart of what we do, so we want to make sure we’re leading the way and creating a future that best supports the research ecosystem and enables chemists to fulfil their potential – and our RSC mission as a society – of making the world a better place.”

• Learn more about our OA work on our dedicated webpage.

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