Free to access articles

All Royal Society journal articles published in 2026 and many of the articles published in previous years, denoted by an open padlock, are open access. As well as open access, we provide ‘free to access’ journal content. Articles denoted by a tick symbol can be accessed free of charge.

Papers published between 10 years ago and either 12 months (biological sciences and history of science) or 24 months (physical sciences) from online issue publication are freely available. For Biographical Memoirs all issues are now freely available.

Please refer to the table below for an overview of the freely available content in our journals.

*1 year for biological sciences (including Interface, Focus and Notes and Records) and 2 years for physical sciences.

Access for low-and middle-income countries

In keeping with our role as the UK's national academy of science, we offer free access to readers in over 100 low-and middle-income countries through our Royal Society Open Access Equity scheme.

Royal Society journal backfiles

The Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions, launched in 1665, was the world’s first scientific journal. It established the fundamental principles of scientific priority and peer review. We have been publishing scientific articles for over 360 years and most of our oldest content is now freely available, specifically, all articles older than 70 years.

Package customers receive free lease access to the full journal archive, while their agreement remains active. Individual journal Subscribe to Open customers have access to content between 11-30 years for the journals they have subscribed to.