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

Like most RSC journals, ChemComm is hybrid. Authors who choose the subscription route pay no APC. Institutional subscribers have full access.

This means the cost for authors who choose the subscription route 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 arranges open access agreements with institutions and consortia. Authors at a covered institution can publish gold open access in RSC journals without paying an APC. Agreements differ depending on the terms set between RSC and each institution, and the eligible journals and article types are listed in each institution's contract.

Check eligibility before you submit. To be recognised, you need to be listed as the corresponding author in RSC's submission system and use your official institutional email address. If your article is accepted, RSC's system identifies whether you are covered by an agreement and explains your licence options. RSC's Journal Finder shows whether your institution has an agreement, which journals it includes, and whether you qualify for a discounted APC instead.

Agreements are institution-specific, so check your library's open access page and RSC's Journal Finder for coverage before assuming you'll need to pay out of pocket.

1. Short communications only. ChemComm Communications are limited to 5 pages: up to 3.5 pages for the title, authors and main text up to and including conclusions, plus a maximum of 1.5 additional pages for the conflicts of interest, data availability and author contributions statements, acknowledgements and references. 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 (normally submitted by invitation), Reviews and Comments, 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. JIF around 4.2. ChemComm's IF has settled around 4-5 in recent years. This places it below the elite chemistry journals (JACS at ~15.6, Angewandte Chemie at ~16.9, Nature Chemistry at ~20.2) but solidly above most specialist chemistry journals. For a rapid communication reporting an interesting finding, an IF around 4.2 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. ChemComm covers all chemistry subdisciplines. RSC lists analytical chemistry, catalysis, chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry and machine learning, energy and sustainable chemistry, environmental chemistry, green chemistry, inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry, nanoscience, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, polymer chemistry and supramolecular chemistry among its major topic areas. 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: RSC's payments page says corresponding authors based in countries classified as Group A or Group B by Research4Life are eligible for a full APC waiver in RSC's gold open access journals. It does not say how the waiver applies to a hybrid journal such as ChemComm, so ask RSC before relying on it.

RSC member discounts: Corresponding authors who are RSC members are eligible for a 15% discount on APCs. To claim it, include your membership number in the online application form when asked.

Discounts and waivers on request: Authors without funding to pay the APC who are not covered by Research4Life can apply for a discount or waiver on acceptance. RSC assesses these requests case by case. RSC says the team that handles payments is not involved in peer review, so that payment stays independent of editorial decisions.

Chemical Science is not a zero-APC alternative: the RSC publishes Chemical Science as a gold OA journal, and RSC's payments page lists a 2026 APC of £2,850 for it. Chemical Science has a higher IF (8.1 in 2025) than ChemComm and publishes full-length articles. The tradeoff is higher selectivity, so weigh fit and fee together.

For researchers on UKRI grants at an institution covered by an RSC open access agreement, the combination is straightforward: the APC is covered and the CC BY licence is available at no extra cost. Check your institution's agreement before assuming it applies.

RSC's standard licence allows you to make the accepted manuscript of your article freely available after a 12-month embargo period, known as the green route, without paying the APC. Check your funder's embargo rules before choosing it, and check whether an open access agreement or your grant can cover the APC.

• 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 Communication has 3.5 pages of main text and at most 1.5 further pages for end matter and references. 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: RSC reports a median of 16 days to first decision across all submissions and 22 days for peer-reviewed submissions, for submissions with a decision in the previous calendar year. 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 3.5 pages of main text

1. You want an affordable OA option (or free subscription publication)

1. Your work is strong but not quite at the Angewandte/JACS level

1. You want faster turnaround than more selective journals

1. You're at an institution covered by an RSC open access agreement

Consider other options if:

1. Your results need a full-length article to explain properly

1. You need the prestige signal of JACS or Angewandte for career advancement

1. You want a gold open access full-length article journal and your work could fit Chemical Science (IF ~8.1, 2026 APC £2,850)

1. 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. Chemical Communications submission readiness check to catch structural issues, missing data, and presentation gaps before submission.

Worth paying if:

• Your funder mandates open access (check Plan S / cOAlition S requirements)

• An institutional Read & Publish agreement covers the fee

• Open access visibility meaningfully benefits your research area

• The APC fits within your grant budget

Consider alternatives if:

• The APC is a personal out-of-pocket expense

• A subscription option or green OA (preprint + embargo) satisfies your funder

• Another OA journal with a lower APC would provide similar visibility

For a manuscript-specific signal before you submit, run a Chemical Communications submission readiness check.

Or see example reports before you finalize.