Open Access

Chinese Physics C is a participating journal in the SCOAP3 Consortium. Qualifying articles in the field of high energy physics are published on an open access basis, without any author fees, and are available to read and reuse under a Creative Commons CC-BY Licence.

To qualify, article preprints must be submitted to the arXiv.org preprint server, in one of the hep-ex, hep-lat, hep-ph or hep-th categories, and the author(s) must indicate that their article qualifies for SCOAP3 funding.

Articles in other categories are published under a subscription model.

Access to journal and articles

CPC journal and individual articles are available to reader by the following two ways:

IOP website: All Open Access articles are available for free, that is there is no additional subscription fee, article pay-to-view fee. The non-OA articles are available via a subscription package from IOP publishing.

CPC website: The readers who access the CPC website via Chinese IP address are free to read or download all articles.

Archiving

All contents of the journal from the first issue in 1977 to present are offered at CPC website.

Since CPC started the collaboration with IOP publishing in 2008, the journal from 2008 to present are also archived at IOP website

Revenue sources

CPC’s revenue sources include author fees, subscriptions, the support from IHEP and the funding from the sponsor institute and SCOAP3 (Each article which qualifies for SCOAP3 funding is published Open Access, so that upon payment of an article publishing charge, the article is freely and permanently available on IOP and CPC website. To cover the cost of Open Access publishing, SCOAP3 pay IOP publishing an APC of £1000 per article. According to the agreement with SCOAP3, SCOAP3 support up to 50 articles from CPC every year. (2017-2019))

Advertising

CPC have no plan to run advertisement now.

Access to old manuscript system

From January 2016, we changed to a new manuscript system. If you have manuscripts in the old system (manuscript IDs 2016-0015 and earlier), you can check these here:
Author Login (old system): Chinese

Journal Data Policy

1. The Significance of Paper Related Data Sharing

“Paper Related Data” refers to the data generated through basic research, applied research, experimental opening, etc. to support the publication of academic papers, as well as data obtained through observation, inspection, investigation, inspection and testing, etc. and used to form papers’ charts and the raw data or its derived data support the research conclusions of the paper. The sharing of paper related data is an important evidence for the research results and conclusions of the paper, improving the verifiability and transparency of the research; the sharing of data improves the attention and influence of scientific journal papers; there use of data saves manpower and material resources, allowing scientists focu son innovative research; paper related data as a new type of academic achievement will promote innovative cooperation and talent training among disciplines, and promote open scientific practice.

2. Types and Requirements of the Paper Related Data

The data used to directly support the conclusions of the paper shall be shared; the data generated from theresearch of the paper and reflected in the paper, or the data reused or analyzed for the research of the paper are encouraged to be shared; the raw data, unprocessed data from paper related experiments or observations that are not reflected in the paper are shared voluntarily. Data involving research ethics issue, sensitive information, confidential information, or sharing data that would damage the legitimate rights and interests of third parties should not be shared. For data that should not be shared, if irreversible desensitization processing has been performed or it can be shared for other legitimate and reasonable reasons, the data author can share it after providing a desensitization statement or other supporting documents.

3. Preferred File Format

The journal does not impose restrictions on the format or subject area of the data submission. However, in terms of data reusability and long-term access, it is better to refer to the list of recommended formats first.

If the file format you use is not in the below list, the journal suggest you evaluate it by the three criteria:

(1)whether the format is common in your discipline;

(2)whether the format has open standards;

(3)whether the format is independent of a peculiar software application, developer or supplier.

If the format you use is not in the list, your submission should meet all or most of the criteria above.

4. Data License

Authors can choose from the following 8 international data licenses: CC0, CC-BY 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0, CCBY-NC 4.0, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, CC BY-ND 4.0, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (in descending order of openness of the above data license) and ODbL (for database). Data usersmust use the data in accordance with the data license agreement chosen by theauthor.

In order to better disseminate and share paper related data, The journal recommends authors to usethe CC-BY 4.0 license agreement.

5. Data Sharing Method

(1) Data Access

There are two kinds of data accessoptions. Authors could choose one applicable option for the data sharing.

A. Open Access

When authors choose the open accessmode, the submission will be open accessed immediately once acceptance. The open content includes both metadata and data files.

B. Conditional Access

·Accessing after the embargoperiod

This option is applicable for data that should not be shared immediately. Authors are allowed to set an embargo period for your research data. During the period, only metadata could be accessed openly, and data files would be forbidden to the public. After the embargo period, the data is automatically converted to open access status, and its metadata and data files are accessible to the public.

·Accessing on requesting

This option is applicable for data that should not be shared openly but can be accessed on reasonable requesting. The decision whether to grant/deny access is solely under the responsibility ofthe data authors. However, in this option, authors should explain the reason in writing and provide necessary supporting materials to the journal.

(2) Data repository

The paper related data must be submitted and shared in a data repository. Our selection criteria and recommended list of data repositories are as follows:

A. Selection Criteria: The data repository shall follow the FAIRprinciple to ensure the discoverability, accessibility, interoperability andreusability of scientific data. Specifically, it includes the following contents and requirements:

Ø The data repository shall provide discoverable data identifiers for scientific data.

Ø When data is stored in the repository, links and publicly shared permanent access addresses should be provided for editorial department and reviewers to review.

Ø Metadata and files should support interoperability and provide an open metadata harvesting interface.

Ø The data repository should support the reuse of data, provide a common standard metadata and dissemination distribution path, and provide support for datareuse.

B. Recommendation List

Ø Science Data Bank (Science DB)

6. Data Review

This journal will execute the stylistic review of the paper related data submitted by authors, mainly reviewing whether the data has been uploaded, whether the uploaded data is accessible, and whether the submit the Data Availability Statement (ifrequested), etc.

Authors should complete the data submission during the paper submission stage.

7. Data Availability Statement

“Data Availability Statement” is an explanatory document or text on whether the paper related data can be obtained and the specific way of obtaining it. It mainly includes the storage method and access link of the paper related data. The use of the “Data Availability Statement” helps to improve research transparency and reproducibility, and is of great significance to the repeated verification of the paper’s conclusions, data reuse, and research integrity.

The Data Availability Statement should include the following: how the data is stored and access links, a unique identifier for the data (if any), and the name of the software or tool that opens or uses the data. If the paper related data is data that should not be shared, the specific conditions and methods for accessing the data should be clearly stated and given. Authors should attach the Data Availability Statement after the main body of the paper and before the reference.

The Data Availability Statement template is as follows, for author’s reference:

1. General Template: The relateddata (DOI/CSTR: ) for thispaper is available in the (database name)database(permanent web link).

2. Data requiring special softwaretools to open: The related data (DOI/CSTR: ) of this paper can be accessed inthe (database name) database (permanent web link), and the software for opening the data is (software name).

3. Data that should not be shared: The related data of this paper is data that should not be shared, and can be obtained from the author for reasonable reasons. The author’s contactinformation: .

8. Data Citation

(1) Why datashould be cited formally

As a kind of research output, research data should be credited. Formal data citation in publications can notonly provide positive incentives to data sharing but enhance the transparency of the research and effectively facilitate the tracking of data reuse. The journal requires to cite data in publications formally.

Paper related data should becredited as the result of the author’s intelligent labor. Data citation can enhance the influence of scientific data and provide evidence for the research that cites the data. This journal provides standardized data citation format for the data.

(2) How to citeresearch data

The journa requires others to formally cite the paper related data and to follow the citation format as: Authors. Title. Science Data Bank, Year [Data of publication]. DOI link.

9. Help and Support

(1) Data Submission Process: Science Data Bank (Science DB)

Ø Registration and Login: The author can choose the account of the data repository to registerand log in, or select the third-party user to authenticate login supported by the repository.

Ø Data Submission and Edit: The author creates a new data through the data submission entry, at which time the data is assigned a unique identifier (CSTR and DOI) and private link. In this process, the author fills in metadata information, uploads data files, selects open sharing mode and other information. At this time, the author can temporarily save the draft and edit the information until submission. After data submission, if the data auditor revises the data, users need to modify the data until the data is approved. Before data release, data can only be reviewed by editorial department through the private link.

Ø Data Release and Dissemination: After releasing, the unique identification of the data takes effect and the data can be retrieved on the repository and dissemination index platform.

Ø Data Update: Once the data is published, if additional files or other data update operations are needed, the author shall initiate the creation of a new version of the data and submit the updated information. As with the old version, the submission needs to be reviewed first before releasing.

(2) Contact Information

Formore questions about paper related data submission, please contact: cpc@ihep.ac.cn

CPC Software Policy

Based on current research practices and the principles of open science, CPC recommends authors follow best practices for software management, archiving, and sharing to enhance research transparency, reproducibility, and credibility. The following policies and requirements pertain to software management:

1. Use of Collaboration Development Platforms

Authors are encouraged to utilize modern collaboration development platforms (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) to manage software code development and version control. These platforms promote code transparency and collaboration while supporting real-time tracking of code changes.

Efforts should be made to make the code open-source, facilitating easy access and reuse by other researchers.

2. Version Control for Software

Assign clear version numbers (e.g., x.y.z format) to reflect different versions and updates of the software.

Clearly indicate the software version supporting the research results when submitting a paper. Ensure this version is permanently accessible on an archiving platform.

3. Archiving and Persistent Identifiers

Archive software and related documentation in reliable third-party repositories (e.g., Zenodo, Figshare, Code Ocean) and obtain a Digital Object Unique Identifier (DOI) for long-term accessibility.

If the software cannot be directly shared publicly, consider archiving services from organizations like Software Heritage to ensure code security and traceability.

Prohibit the use of software versions stored solely in private repositories to support research findings.

4. Intellectual Property and Software Licenses

Use appropriate software licenses (e.g., MIT License, GNU GPL, Apache 2.0) to clearly outline terms for software use, modification, and distribution.

Include a license file (e.g., LICENSE or NOTICE) in the code repository and ensure it complies with requirements from relevant institutions or sponsors.

If the software involves intellectual property or confidentiality agreements, consult legal counsel to ensure compliance.

5. Software Not Publicly Shared

If software cannot be publicly shared due to intellectual property, confidentiality agreements, or other restrictions, note the reasons in the manuscript and reference relevant literature to inform readers about the software's functionality and methods.

In such cases, consider providing a brief method description or pseudocode to help other researchers understand the software's functionality and usage.

6. Encouraging Open Sharing

CPC encourages authors to share software and datasets openly to facilitate knowledge dissemination and scientific reproducibility.

CPC does not require authors to transfer copyright for software or datasets but ensures clear access pathways are provided upon submission.

If an embargo (typically not exceeding 12 months) is necessary due to specific situations, authors must discuss this with journal editors and include embargo information in the manuscript.

7. Availability Statement

Include an "Availability Statement" section in the manuscript, detailing software access pathways, version information, licenses, and any embargo restrictions.

If the software is not publicly shared, explain the reasons in the statement and provide alternative resources or explanations where possible.

8. Ethics and Responsibility

Authors must ensure that submitted software and related materials do not infringe on intellectual property rights or violate ethical standards.

The use of software should comply with relevant laws and ethical standards, particularly concerning data privacy and security.