RSC

Within the scope of the EKUAL Project conducted by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM, access to electronic journals of The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) publisher has been provided as of January 1, 2026. As of 2026, APC support is provided for a specific number of articles through a "Read & Publish" model that covers both content access and Open Access (OA) article publishing.

Criteria and Annual Quotas:
Since there is a specific OA article quota within the scope of the "TÜBİTAK - RSC Read & Publish Agreement," specific criteria have been determined by TÜBİTAK regarding articles eligible for APC support. For the 2026–2028 period, total annual OA article quotas for Gold (fully open access) and Hybrid journals are as follows:

2026: Gold + Hybrid / 255 Articles

2027: Gold + Hybrid / 260 Articles

2028: Gold + Hybrid / 260 Articles

Author Eligibility: To benefit from the agreement, the "Corresponding Author" must be an active academic staff member of our university.

Allocation Principle: If an article is accepted by a journal and RSC's licensing system determines that the article is eligible for open access publishing, the process will be carried out on a "first-come, first-served" basis.

Agreement Status & Quota Availability:

An OA article application can only be made if the agreement is active at the time of article acceptance. If the agreement is not active, OA application will not be possible.

Regardless of whether the agreement is active, if no quota is available when the article is accepted, the APC fee will be the author's responsibility.

Regardless of whether the journal is Hybrid or Gold, if the agreement is active and quota is available at the time of acceptance, the APC fee can be covered under the agreement. For Gold journals where APC is applied, authors may submit their articles; however, APC support will only be provided if the agreement is in effect and quota is available at the time of acceptance.

If the opportunity to benefit from the agreement is exhausted when an article is accepted in a Hybrid journal, the author has the option to publish the article free of charge as closed access. For Gold journals, paying the APC is mandatory.

Quota Operating Rules:

According to RSC journal/author system rules, each year's quota operates independently. An accepted article cannot utilize quotas from a previous or subsequent year.

Under the terms of the agreement, no institutional OA article quota allocation is made.

Email Verification Requirement: Whether an article falls within the scope of the EKUAL agreement can only be identified via the author's institutional email address. Therefore, if the author wishes to publish the article as OA, using an institutional email address belonging to an EKUAL member institution in the manuscript submission form is mandatory.

Pre-Submission Recommendation: Authors are advised to check whether a journal is Hybrid or Gold and review the steps in the "RSC Author Workflow" document prior to manuscript submission.

TÜBİTAK AYEK Rules and APC Reimbursement Conditions:
If it is determined that APC support was provided by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM during a period of restriction to any author who is banned under TÜBİTAK AYEK Decisions or listed among those whose authority to practice their profession has been revoked or temporarily revoked by the Ministry of Health, or if an article receiving APC support is retracted, the corresponding author or co-authors must notify ukg@ulakbim.gov.tr and reimburse the APC amount specified by ULAKBİM back to ULAKBİM. Otherwise, ULAKBİM reserves the right to collect the APC fee from the corresponding author.

Information and Training:

Details regarding the TÜBİTAK - RSC Open Access Article Publishing Agreement can be accessed under The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) section in the table on the EKUAL page.

Author training sessions are being planned. The training calendar can be accessed under the "Events" section. Attending at least one training session is recommended to learn more about open access agreements.

The most up-to-date author information can always be accessed via the "guidelines for authors" and "when you are ready to publish" sections at the provided link.

NOTE: According to the statement made by TÜBİTAK, the remaining quota as of June 29, 2026 is: 195

Agreement Details | TUBİTAK ULAKBİM | Journal List| Author Workflow | TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM Agreement Details Document