Chemical Communications APC and Open Access: Short Papers, Modest Fees, and How RSC Stacks Up

Like most RSC journals, ChemComm is hybrid. The majority of published papers go through the subscription track at no cost to the author. Institutional subscribers (which include most research universities) have full access.

This means the real-world cost for many ChemComm authors is zero. You submit, your paper gets reviewed and accepted, and it's published behind the paywall. Your colleagues at research institutions can read it through their library subscriptions.

The practical question is whether your funder requires open access. If you're funded by UKRI, an ERC grant, or a Plan S funder, you'll need the gold OA option. If you're on NSF, DOE, or industry funding without an OA mandate, the subscription track works fine and costs nothing.

The Royal Society of Chemistry has been building transformative agreements under its Gold for Gold program:

UK authors benefit the most. The RSC is a UK-based learned society, and its Jisc agreement is one of the most generous in chemistry publishing. If you're at a UK university, your ChemComm OA APC is almost certainly covered. You don't need to do anything special. The system recognizes your institutional affiliation and applies the coverage during production.

For US-based researchers, RSC agreements are institution-specific and less universal than ACS deals. Check your library's open access page for RSC coverage before assuming you'll need to pay out of pocket.

1. Short communications only. ChemComm publishes communications of about 3-4 printed pages. These aren't full-length research articles. They're concise reports of new findings that are significant enough to merit rapid publication. The journal also publishes Feature Articles (invited reviews) and Highlights (short commentaries), but the core content is communications. If your work requires 8-10 pages to explain properly, ChemComm isn't the right venue. Look at RSC's other journals like Chemical Science or Dalton Transactions.

2. Impact factor around 5. ChemComm's IF has settled around 4.5-5.5 in recent years. This places it below the elite chemistry journals (JACS at ~15, Angewandte Chemie at ~13.4, Nature Chemistry at ~22) but solidly above most specialist chemistry journals. For a rapid communication reporting an interesting finding, an IF around 5 is respectable. It signals that the work was novel enough to catch an editor's attention but doesn't carry the prestige weight of JACS or Angewandte.

3. Broad chemistry scope with strong organic and inorganic coverage. ChemComm covers all chemistry subdisciplines, but it has traditionally been strongest in organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and inorganic/coordination chemistry. Materials chemistry, chemical biology, and catalysis are also well represented. If your communication fits any of these areas, ChemComm is a natural venue.

The RSC offers several pathways to reduce or eliminate the APC:

Research4Life waivers: Authors from Research4Life-eligible countries receive automatic APC waivers or deep discounts. Group A countries get full waivers.

RSC member discounts: RSC members receive discounts on APCs, typically 15-25%. If you're already an RSC fellow or member, this applies automatically.

Hardship waivers: Available on request for authors who genuinely can't access funding. The RSC states that editorial decisions are never influenced by ability to pay.

Chemical Science alternative: If cost is your primary concern, the RSC publishes Chemical Science as a fully gold OA journal with zero APC. The RSC funds it entirely. Chemical Science has a higher IF (~8.4) than ChemComm and publishes full-length articles. The tradeoff is higher selectivity, but if your work is competitive, it's the best deal in chemistry.

For UK researchers on UKRI grants, the combination of ChemComm and the Jisc agreement is seamless. The OA APC is covered, the CC BY license satisfies the mandate, and you don't need to think about repository deposits.

For US researchers, the green OA route (depositing your accepted manuscript after a 12-month embargo) satisfies NIH and NSF mandates without paying the APC. Given that ChemComm's APC is relatively modest, though, the OA option is affordable enough that many groups simply pay it.

• No page charges beyond the APC (if OA is selected)
• No color figure fees for online publication
• Short format means lower writing investment. A ChemComm paper is 3-4 pages. The preparation time is much less than a full article, which makes the overall cost-per-effort favorable even if you pay the APC.
• Supporting Information (SI): You can include extensive SI at no extra cost. Most ChemComm papers rely heavily on SI for experimental details, spectra, and additional data.
• RSC formatting: RSC templates are straightforward and less fussy than ACS Paragon Plus. Most authors find the submission process smooth.
• Review speed: ChemComm typically provides initial decisions within 4-6 weeks. Rejected communications are returned quickly, which means you don't lose months if the paper isn't a fit.

ChemComm works well when:

1. You have a concise, self-contained finding that fits in 3-4 pages
2. You want an affordable OA option (or free subscription publication)
3. Your work is strong but not quite at the Angewandte/JACS level
4. You want faster turnaround than more selective journals
5. You're a UK researcher with automatic RSC/Jisc APC coverage

Consider other options if:

1. Your results need a full-length article to explain properly
2. You need the prestige signal of JACS or Angewandte for career advancement
3. You want zero APC and your work could fit Chemical Science (IF ~8.4, free)
4. Your communication is purely organic chemistry and the Organic Letters audience matters more

For more on RSC publishing costs and how they compare across chemistry, see our JACS APC guide. Before submitting to ChemComm, make sure your communication is tightly written and your key finding is front and center. Editors make fast decisions on short papers, and first impressions matter. Run a free readiness scan to catch structural issues, missing data, and presentation gaps before submission.