Chemistry

In this section we have compiled some information on Open Access (OA) in the field of chemistry. If you have any comments or suggestions on this topic, please do not hesitate to send us an E-mail.

 

General information on Open Access in the field of chemistry

OA is far less accepted and widespread in the field of chemistry than in the neighbouring disciplines of biology and physics. Although there are roughly as many OA chemistry journals as there are physics periodicals (as of August 2008, 81 titles in the Directory of Open Access Journals and 389 titles in the Electronic Journals Library – EZB), the number of chemistry contributions deposited in OA repositories (preprint archives, university servers etc) is only half that deposited by physicists (based on the number of documents which can be accessed via OAI interfaces).

Scientific societies in the field of chemistry differ with regard to their stance on OA and the extent to which they promote the principle. For example, the American Chemical Society (ACS) is not well-disposed towards OA at all. As one of the largest providers of chemistry databases and a leading publisher of chemistry journals, it fights against OA competition such as the database PubChem. (The ACS finances its large staff from profits on sales of its information products.) In 2007, the British Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) introduced an Author Choice Option, whereby authors can provide OA to their articles by paying a publication fee. However, despite this option, the RSC's stance on OA is similarly critical to that of the ACS.

In a discussion paper on Open Access issued in September 2004, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) expressed its support in principle "for the goal of Open Access to ensure enhanced access to scientific and scholarly information". However, the GDCh indicated that its acceptance of OA was conditional upon the assurance of scientific quality. Therefore, it rejected as a matter of principle "the publication of results before they have undergone quality control" and expressed concern and scepticism with regard to quality control in OA journals funded through publication fees. In the GDCh's view, the quality of a contribution alone should determine whether it is accepted for publication. The GDCh also expressed scepticism as to whether an OA publication-fee model could ensure a "balanced and fair distribution of costs between academic users and users in industry", and it criticised the fact that publication fees place authors who are less well-supported financially at a disadvantage, thereby undermining equal opportunity.

Although OA chemistry publishing is not yet widespread, some other interesting and relevant OA/Open Source resources are available to chemists [see Todd, 2007]:

The following Open Source initiatives also deserve mention:

References

Discussion paper on Open Access to Scientific Knowledge issued by the German Chemical Society in September 2004.

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Open Access journals

Unless otherwise stated, the following journals do not charge publication fees. The Journal Impact Factors are taken from the online edition of the Journal Citation Reports (copyright 2008).

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Subject-based repositories and databases

Repositories

Databases

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Member of open-access.net Scientific Advisory Board from the field of chemistry

 

Prof. Dr. Wolfram Koch - Managing Director of the German Chemical Society (GDCh)

 

Other board members

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