All of the RSC’s open access journals will benefit from an increased presence on the popular academic social networking site ResearchGate, under an agreement announced on 20 April. The new collaboration follows the RSC’s commitment last year to transition to a wholly open access (OA) publishing model within five years.

The approximately 1.5 million chemical scientists who use ResearchGate globally will now be able to access these publications. Through the arrangement, all version-of-record content from the RSC’s eight newly launched OA journals will be syndicated directly to ResearchGate. In addition, dedicated journal profiles will be created and made accessible on the network, and each journal will be prominently represented on all of its associated article pages on ResearchGate.

‘We look forward to seeing the usage data from ResearchGate and anticipate that we will reach a broader network of researchers – not only chemists – through this partnership,’ stated Sara Bosshart, who heads open access at the RSC. ‘Authors will have articles published in RSC OA journals included in this arrangement automatically added to their publication pages on ResearchGate,’ she added, noting that they will also receive access to data on readership and they will be able to more easily learn about potential publishing opportunities across the RSC’s journals portfolio.

‘We’re excited to be able to connect the 1.5 million chemists on ResearchGate with the Royal Society of Chemistry’s newly launched open access journals, and we look forward to helping to accelerate growth in readership and submissions for these exciting new publishing venues,’ added Sören Hofmayer, ResearchGate’s chief strategy officer.