Publication Guide
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is the world's leading society publisher in the chemical sciences, with around 57 peer-reviewed journals covering chemistry and its interfaces with biology, materials, energy, environment, engineering, and medicine. As a non-profit, the RSC reinvests publishing surpluses into the chemistry community - grants, education, and advocacy - which is one reason many chemists choose an RSC journal over a commercial alternative.
The society traces its origins to the Chemical Society, founded in London in 1841. The modern RSC was created in 1980 by amalgamating the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society, and the Society for Analytical Chemistry under a new Royal Charter. Publishing operations are based in Cambridge, with the society headquartered at Burlington House, London. This guide covers how to pick the right RSC journal, open access options and 2026 APCs, the peer review process, and how to submit.
Which RSC journal fits your paper?
RSC journals range from ultra-selective review and flagship titles to broad-scope, sound-science venues. Use the guide below to choose the right route for your manuscript.
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a high-significance advance across any area of chemistry | Chemical Science - the RSC's flagship gold OA journal; selective, broad-scope, edited by leading academics. |
| Want to publish an authoritative review | Chemical Society Reviews - invited or proposal-based critical reviews; one of the highest-impact venues in chemistry. |
| Work in energy, solar, batteries, or environmental science | Energy & Environmental Science or Journal of Materials Chemistry A - premier venues for energy materials and sustainability research. |
| Have an urgent, concise preliminary finding | Chemical Communications (ChemComm) - short communications with fast turnaround across all chemistry. |
| Work in nanoscience or materials chemistry | Nanoscale, Journal of Materials Chemistry A/B/C, or Materials Advances (gold OA). |
| Want a broad-scope, affordable gold OA venue | RSC Advances - the RSC's sound-science mega-journal; £2,200 APC with deep country discounts. |
| Work in green or sustainable chemistry | Green Chemistry - the field's founding journal, published since 1999. |
What the RSC actually publishes
~57 peer-reviewed journals, all under the single RSC Publishing imprint:
- Flagship and review titles - Chemical Science, Chemical Society Reviews, Chem Soc Rev's sibling Natural Product Reports, and Energy & Environmental Science.
- The Journal of Materials Chemistry family - JMC A (energy and sustainability), JMC B (biology and medicine), JMC C (optical, magnetic and electronic devices).
- Broad-scope OA venues - RSC Advances, plus the newer Advances family (Materials Advances, Energy Advances, Environmental Science: Advances, Digital Discovery).
- Specialist titles - ChemComm, Green Chemistry, Nanoscale, Analyst, Lab on a Chip, Soft Matter, Food & Function, Faraday Discussions (the 100+ year old discussion-meeting series), and more.
Open access at the RSC
In 2022 the RSC announced an ambition to make its whole portfolio open access within five years; in 2025 it moved away from a one-size-fits-all deadline toward regionally tailored OA models based on local funding and infrastructure. Current routes:
- Gold OA (fully-OA journals) - Chemical Science, RSC Advances, Materials Advances, Energy Advances, Digital Discovery, Nanoscale Advances, and others. Licences CC BY or CC BY-NC.
- Hybrid OA - every subscription journal offers a paid OA option (£3,100 on the 2026 price list).
- Green OA (self-archiving) - accepted-manuscript archiving is permitted; check the per-journal embargo terms.
- Read & Publish agreements - the RSC pioneered society R&P deals (its legacy Gold for Gold scheme was an early offsetting experiment, since discontinued). Today more than 1,000 institutions across 30+ countries are covered, giving affiliated corresponding authors uncapped fee-free OA publishing.
APCs - actual numbers
APCs below are from the RSC's 2026 price list (GBP, before tax), applying to submissions from 1 January 2026. Prices are revised annually - always check the journal's own OA page before submitting.
| Title tier | APC | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chemistry Education Research and Practice | £0 | Diamond OA - free to publish and read |
| Most gold OA titles (RSC Advances, Materials Advances, Energy Advances, Digital Discovery) | £2,200 | Reduced rate £1,100-£1,425 for India, Indonesia, Philippines |
| Chemical Science | £2,850 | Free to publish 2015-2025; APC introduced on the 2026 price list |
| Hybrid journals (ChemComm, Green Chemistry, Nanoscale, JMC family, etc.) | £3,100 | Standard hybrid OA rate |
Discounts and waivers: Research4Life Group A and B countries receive full waivers; RSC members get 15% off APCs; authors without funding can apply for a discretionary waiver on acceptance; and Read & Publish authors pay nothing.
Peer review process
- Default model: single-anonymized peer review across the portfolio - reviewers know author identities, authors do not know reviewers.
- Editorial model: flagship titles such as Chemical Science use active academic editors; RSC Advances uses a large associate-editor board with sound-science criteria.
- Turnaround: varies by journal. Communications-focused titles (ChemComm) and RSC Advances are among the fastest; review titles take longer. Check each journal's published times to first decision.
How to submit
- Pick the journal. Match scope and selectivity using the journal pages on pubs.rsc.org or SciSpace's journal metrics.
- Read the author guidelines. Each RSC journal has title-specific requirements; the RSC Author Hub centralizes them.
- Prepare your manuscript. RSC journals are format-flexible at first submission; use the RSC template on SciSpace for a compliant layout. References follow the RSC numbered (superscript) style.
- Submit via ScholarOne Manuscripts. All RSC journals use the ScholarOne platform; email or postal submissions are not accepted.
- Respond to reviews. Decisions and revisions are handled inside ScholarOne, with the handling editor communicating throughout.
Ethics and integrity
The RSC is a member of COPE, OASPA, and STM, and applies COPE guidance to corrections and retractions. It has also led on inclusion and diversity standards in chemistry publishing, including its framework for minimum standards of inclusion adopted by dozens of other publishers. Data-sharing statements are encouraged portfolio-wide and required by several journals.
