What is RSM Open?

RSM Open offers authors of accepted papers the choice to make the final published version of their paper freely available online immediately upon publication, and to post to repositories, for a one-off fee of US$3000. The open access option will be available to all authors submitting articles on or after 1 October 2009 and applies to all RSM journals.

How will readers know which articles are freely available?

Articles will be clearly marked with the text ‘OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE’ and the RSM Open icon : – this will be used to identify open access articles in the journal’s Table of Contents, both in print and online.

When will authors be given the choice to pay the open access fee?

Upon submission authors have the option of ticking a check box to indicate their intention to take up this offer and pay the one-off fee to make their paper open access. For purposes of transparency, RSM Press asks that authors state the sources of funding for both their research and for any Open Access fees when they submit their manuscript. If appropriate, the information will be added to the Acknowledgement section of the article.

Upon acceptance for publication the author will duly receive a payment form attached to their article proof. Authors will need to complete the payment form and return this alongside any corrections to the Production Editor in the normal manner.

The open access fee will be administered by the publisher, Royal Society of Medicine Press (RSM Press), and payment can be made either via a credit card or by requesting an invoice to be raised. If an institution is willing to pay on the author’s behalf, then the author can request the invoice to be sent to the institution.

Please note that the optional open access fees are in addition to any colour charges that might apply.

Will RSM Press be reviewing their subscription prices?

The amount of open access content in each journal will be reviewed annually. Should the proportion of open access papers become significant, future online subscription prices may be reduced.

Who retains copyright of the open access articles?

Authors who have chosen to participate in RSM Open will have their content licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported Licence. The author will thereby permit dissemination and reuse of the article, and so will enable users to reuse the content for educational and research purposes. It does not however allow commercial use, or the creation of derivative works without further permission. View a copy of this licence.

Which funding bodies require authors to sign up with this open access?

RSM Open complies with all funding body mandates, for example: Wellcome Trust, UK Medical Research Council, Arthritis Research Campaign, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Chief Scientist Office, British Heart Foundation, Department of Health, HHMI, and Cancer Research UK.

Authors selecting the RSM Open option have no embargo restriction on posting the pre-print (pre-refereeing) or post-print (post-refereeing) of the published article to any institutional or subject repository.

If you would like further information please contact us.