The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) is the scientific union for crystallographers worldwide and the field's definitive publisher. Founded in 1948 - the same year it launched Acta Crystallographica - the IUCr publishes 10 peer-reviewed journals from its editorial office in Chester, UK. Unlike commercial mega-publishers, its portfolio is deliberately narrow and deep: every title serves crystallography, structural biology, structural chemistry, materials structure, or synchrotron and free-electron-laser science. If your paper reports or depends on a crystal structure, diffraction method, or structural technique, an IUCr journal is very likely the natural home for it.

This guide covers how to choose among the 10 titles, what each publishes, the open-access options and 2026 fees, peer review, and how to submit.

The portfolio has three layers:

• Flagship and methods journals - IUCrJ (open-access flagship), Journal of Applied Crystallography (methods, software, instrumentation), and Journal of Synchrotron Radiation.
• The Acta Crystallographica series (Sections A-F) - the field's journal of record since 1948, split by subject: A (foundations and advances), B (structural science, crystal engineering and materials), C (structural chemistry), D (structural biology), E (crystallographic communications - short structure reports), F (structural biology communications).
• Data publication - IUCrData, launched 2016 for short, peer-reviewed data articles.

The IUCr also produces International Tables for Crystallography, the field's standard reference series, and pioneered data standards: submissions build on the CIF (Crystallographic Information Framework) format, and structure data are validated automatically (checkCIF) before review.

Four journals are fully open access; the other six are hybrid, offering an optional open-access fee. All OA articles are published under CC BY. Fees below are from the journals' 2026 fee pages (USD); IUCr members and World Directory registrants pay reduced rates, so always check the journal's own open-access page before submission.

Three ways to avoid paying directly:

• Transformative arrangements / Wiley deals - the IUCr partners with Wiley, and authors whose institution or funder is covered by an eligible Wiley read-and-publish deal (or an IUCr transformative arrangement) publish OA at no direct charge. Check the cOAlition S Journal Checker Tool or your library.
• Waivers - full or partial waivers are available for authors from developing countries or with financial hardship; requests must be made before submission.
• Green OA - the IUCr allows immediate deposit of the accepted manuscript (and, for hybrid titles, even the version of record) with no embargo.

IUCr journals use single-anonymized peer review, handled by working crystallographers as co-editors. A distinctive feature is data-level review: crystal-structure submissions pass automated checkCIF validation, and referees see the validation report alongside the manuscript - one reason IUCr journals are regarded as the quality benchmark for structural data.

1. Pick the journal using the decision table above; scope statements are on each journal's homepage at journals.iucr.org.
2. Prepare the manuscript and data. Use the journal's template (available on SciSpace) and prepare your CIF; run checkCIF before submission to catch validation alerts early.
3. Confirm fees or coverage. For OA routes, confirm at submission that you can pay the fee, hold a waiver, or are covered by a Wiley/transformative deal.
4. Submit via the IUCr's own online submission system, linked from each journal's page - the IUCr runs its own platform rather than Editorial Manager or ScholarOne.
5. Respond to reviews through the same system; accepted structures and data are deposited and linked to databases such as the PDB and CSD.

The IUCr is a member of COPE and OASPA and follows COPE guidance on corrections and retractions. Its data policies are among the strictest in science publishing: structures must be supported by deposited, validated data, and the union has led community standards (CIF, checkCIF) that make results independently verifiable.