Publication Guide
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is the dominant society publisher in chemistry. Founded in 1876 and publishing journals since 1879 - the year the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) launched - ACS Publications today runs a portfolio of more than 90 peer-reviewed journals covering every chemistry sub-discipline, plus materials science, nanoscience, energy, environmental science, and chemical engineering. The portfolio is still growing: Environmental Health Perspectives joined ACS Publications in January 2026, alongside recent launches such as ACS Applied Catalysis.
Unlike the large commercial houses, ACS is a non-profit scientific society, and its journals consistently rank among the most-cited in chemistry - Chemical Reviews and JACS are perennial fixtures at the top of the field. This guide covers how to pick the right ACS journal, what open access costs, how peer review works, and how to submit.
Which ACS journal fits your paper?
ACS journals range from ultra-selective flagships to broad-scope open-access venues. Use the table below to choose a starting point.
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a high-impact result of broad chemical interest | JACS - the flagship since 1879, covering all of chemistry; or ACS Central Science, the society's selective diamond-OA flagship (free to publish and read). |
| Be writing an authoritative literature review | Chemical Reviews - among the highest-impact journals in all of science; reviews are typically invited, so query the editors first. |
| Work in nanoscience or materials | ACS Nano, Nano Letters, Chemistry of Materials, or ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces for applications-focused work. |
| Work in catalysis, energy, or environmental science | ACS Catalysis, ACS Energy Letters, or Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T). |
| Want fully open access with the gold license | JACS Au or the discipline-specific ACS Au family (Au = gold) - fully OA sister titles to the flagships. |
| Want a sound-science, budget-friendly OA venue | ACS Omega - broad-scope gold OA with an APC around $1,935, judged on rigor rather than perceived impact. |
What ACS actually publishes
90+ peer-reviewed journals under the single ACS Publications imprint, organized in a few recognizable families:
- Flagships - JACS (1879), Chemical Reviews, and ACS Central Science (diamond OA, launched 2015).
- Discipline titles - Analytical Chemistry, The Journal of Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, The Journal of Physical Chemistry series, Inorganic Chemistry, and dozens more.
- ACS Applied family - ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and its sibling applied journals.
- ACS Au family - fully gold-OA counterparts launched from 2020 onward, including JACS Au and nine discipline-specific Au titles.
- ACS Omega - the society's broad-scope, sound-science gold-OA journal.
ACS also publishes Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the society's newsmagazine, and the ChemRxiv preprint server is co-owned by ACS with other chemistry societies.
Open access at ACS
ACS offers four routes:
- Diamond OA - ACS Central Science is completely free for authors and readers; ACS covers all costs. Articles are published CC BY.
- Gold OA (fully-OA journals) - the ACS Au family, JACS Au, and ACS Omega. APCs vary by title; ACS Omega is around $1,935.
- Hybrid OA (ACS AuthorChoice) - nearly all subscription titles offer a per-article OA option under CC BY or CC BY-NC-ND. Flagship hybrid APCs run to roughly $5,000+; use the ACS pricing calculator for the exact figure.
- Green OA (self-archiving) - accepted manuscripts may be self-archived, typically after a 12-month embargo. ACS also offers a paid zero-embargo deposit route via its flat-fee Article Development Charge (ADC) of $2,500.
Read + Publish agreements: ACS has transformative agreements with 300+ institutions worldwide. If your institution has one, your APC is covered - check with your library or the ESAC registry before paying anything.
APCs - actual numbers
Prices below reflect ACS's published 2026 guidance (USD, before discounts); ACS revises prices annually and applies country-tiered discounts, so always confirm on the ACS pricing calculator before submission.
| Route | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ACS Central Science | $0 | Diamond OA - ACS covers all publication costs |
| ACS Omega | ~$1,935 | Broad-scope gold OA; no submission, page, or color charges |
| ACS Au family / JACS Au | ~5,000 | Fully gold OA; varies by title |
| AuthorChoice (hybrid) | up to ~$5,000+ on flagships | Varies by journal and license (CC BY vs CC BY-NC-ND) |
| Zero-embargo green (ADC) | $2,500 flat | Article Development Charge for immediate accepted-manuscript deposit |
| Discounts | -2,000 | ACS member and subscriber discounts; larger embargo-based reductions; LMIC country tiers |
Peer review process
- Default model: single-anonymized peer review across the portfolio.
- Double-anonymized and transparent review: offered on selected titles - check the journal's author guidelines.
- Turnaround: varies by journal; ACS titles are generally regarded as fast for chemistry, with letters-format journals (Nano Letters, ACS Energy Letters) the quickest.
- Transfers: if a manuscript is declined, editors commonly offer transfer to another ACS journal (including JACS Au or ACS Omega) without re-uploading.
How to submit
- Pick the journal. Browse the portfolio at pubs.acs.org and read recent issues to check scope fit.
- Read the author guidelines. Each ACS journal has title-specific requirements at pubs.acs.org/page/4authors.
- Prepare your manuscript. Use the ACS template on SciSpace; references follow ACS style (numbered, superscript or italic parenthetical).
- Submit via ACS Paragon Plus / ACS Publishing Center. ACS is progressively moving submission and tracking into the new ACS Publishing Center; during the transition some steps still run through Paragon Plus. Log in with your ACS ID.
- Track and revise. The ACS Publishing Center manuscript tracker shows status, transfers, and revision requests in one place.
Ethics and integrity
ACS is a member of COPE, OASPA, and STM. Its ethical guidelines for authors, reviewers, and editors are published in the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication, and retractions follow COPE-aligned procedures. Data and code availability expectations are set per journal in the author guidelines.
