Use of Open Access (OA) publishing is changing as ACM moves towards greater use of OA. ACM will become fully Open Access by the end of 2025. In the meantime, for repeat authors, OA procedures may have changed from your last paper, so please read this.
ACM OA policy is summaries at ACM article ‘Open Access Publication & ACM‘.
Papers successfully given OA publishing status will be freely accessible via the ACM Digital Library, including non-members and those without DL.ACM access via their institution or organisation.
The New Method: ACM Open
Under this new method, for qualifying organisations (e.g. a university) OA publishing is free. To qualify the paper’s corresponding author must have an email at a qualifying organisation.
Unsure if your organisation is part of ACM? Check this listing of ACM Open organisations. If qualifying, also check with your organisation’s library in case they have any local requirements, e.g. the type of CreativeCommons licence to choose.
Authors wishing—or required to—use ACM Open OA publishing may choose from one of a number of v4.0 Creative Commons licences. The default is CC-BY 4.0, but other more restrictive option of the licence are possible (see details) any may be more pertinent in some cases.
There is also an ACM Open FAQ with more detail.
The Old Method: OA Charges
If ACM Open is not possible, OA Article Processing charges apply. The sum charged varies on author status:
$1,000 USD if no author is a current ACM or SIGWEB member. Note: the cost of a year’s SIG or ACM membership is less than $300, so it makes sense for one author to become a member before this stage.
$700.00 if at lease one author is a current ACM or SIGWEB member.
When is the charge made? At the submission rights management stage, when OA is selected.
When is the sum due? Charges should ideally be paid during rights management. Otherwise, authors must complete payment within 60 days of the invoice, or OA status revoked unless/until payment is made.
Therefore authors using the chargeable OA method should ensure they are sure the invoice sum is available for payment—this may require liaison with your library or admin department.