Under the EKUAL Project conducted by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM, electronic journals published by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) have been accessible as of 1 January 2026.
As of 2026, the agreement covers both subscription access and Open Access (OA) article publishing under the “Read & Publish” model, providing APC support for a limited number of articles.
Since the “TÜBİTAK–RSC Read & Publish Agreement” includes a limited OA article quota, specific eligibility criteria for APC support have been determined by TÜBİTAK.
The TÜBİTAK–Royal Society of Chemistry OA Article Support Criteria are as follows:
- The 2026 TÜBİTAK–RSC Open Access Article Account will become active as of the date when member institutions complete their activation procedures. While the agreement is active, OA applications may be submitted for articles accepted in Hybrid and Gold journals.
- Articles accepted before 1 January 2026 will not be evaluated within the scope of the agreement.
- Articles accepted between 1 January 2026 and the date the contract was signed may be requested to be converted retrospectively into Open Access articles.
- During the 2026–2028 period, the annual OA article quotas (total for Gold and Hybrid journals) are as follows:
2026: Gold + Hybrid / 255
2027: Gold + Hybrid / 260
2028: Gold + Hybrid / 260
- In order to benefit from the agreement, the Corresponding Author must be an active member of the academic staff at a university.
- Author training sessions are being planned, and the training schedule can be accessed under the “Events” section.
- If an article is accepted by a journal and RSC’s licensing system confirms that it is eligible for Open Access publication, the process will be carried out on a “first come, first served” basis.
- Regardless of whether the journal follows a Hybrid or Gold model, if an article is accepted while the agreement is active and the quota is available, the APC fee may be covered under the agreement. For Gold journals that apply an APC, authors may submit their manuscripts; however, APC support will only be provided if the agreement is in force and the quota is available at the time of acceptance.
- In accordance with TÜBİTAK AYEK Decisions, if it is determined that APC support has been granted by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM to any author who is banned or whose professional practice rights have been revoked or temporarily suspended by the Ministry of Health during the period of restriction, or if an article supported with APC has been retracted, the corresponding author or co-authors must notify ukg@ulakbim.gov.tr and reimburse the APC amount specified by ULAKBİM. Otherwise, ULAKBİM reserves the right to claim the APC fee from the corresponding author.