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Thieme is a publisher of scientific and healthcare information that serves medicine and chemistry. For authors, the practical questions are which journals it publishes, where its content is hosted online, and how open access publishing works at Thieme. This guide answers those questions from Thieme’s own author and science pages, checked on 2026-10-29, and shows where to check the details that change every year.
What Thieme is
Thieme is a publishing group whose science activity, in its own words, “supports researchers in medicine and chemistry worldwide in making their findings visible on attractive platforms.” Its imprint page is the one for Georg Thieme Verlag KG.
Thieme’s own overview of its science work singles out several chemistry titles: SYNTHESIS, SYNLETT, SYNFACTS and Science of Synthesis, grouped under Thieme Chemistry, which it describes as publishing information “in synthetic organic and general chemistry for research chemists and advanced students.” Open access journals are also part of the portfolio.
Who runs it and what it covers
The journal portfolio covers two fields. Thieme’s author pages describe it as “high-quality scientific journals covering the fields of medicine and chemistry,” and direct authors to an “All Journals” page for each journal’s scope, publication frequency and impact factor. Because impact factors are year-specific and set by the indexer, read the figure on the journal’s own page for the year you need rather than relying on a summary.
Thieme also states that its range of books and journals is fully available online, and links Thieme Connect as the online platform for e-books and e-journals.
How Thieme handles open access
Thieme’s scientific journals follow one of two publication models: Hybrid Open Access and Open Access. Thieme also says that all of its journals offer the option to publish open access. In general terms, a hybrid journal is a subscription journal in which individual articles can be made open, while a gold open access journal publishes every article openly. Our comparison of open access models sets the models side by side.
For open access articles, Thieme states that the charges “are typically paid by authors, institutions, or sponsors” as article processing charges (APCs). The amounts are published in a downloadable APC price list. This guide quotes no figures, because charges change and the current list is the one that applies. For the general mechanics of who pays and how to seek a waiver, see our guide to article processing charges.
Thieme describes its open access journals as subject to “rigorous, independent peer review.”
Funding agreements and Read & Publish deals
Two arrangements can change what an author pays. First, Thieme says it has signed several funding agreements with institutions to cover open access APCs in many of its journals, so that authors at participating institutions can publish open access “at no or discounted cost.” Thieme links a list of participating institutions from its open access page, which is the place to check whether your own institution is on it before you submit.
Second, on its science page Thieme says it has signed Read & Publish agreements with library consortia and research institutions. It also says it is transferring selected titles to “gold-standard open access offerings.” Our explainer on Read & Publish agreements covers how these deals work from the author side.
Where to find what you need on Thieme’s author pages
Thieme’s author-facing open access page is organised into sections, and these are the real labels to look for:
- Why Publish Open Access? explains Thieme’s reasoning and the option on all its journals.
- All Journals lists the portfolio with each journal’s scope, frequency and impact factor.
- Funding Agreements leads to Participating Institutions.
- APCs carries the Price List, the Double-Dipping Policy, the Waiver Policy and an FAQ.
The same page lists two contacts: the Thieme Open Access journals team for open access questions, and the Thieme E-Journals Helpdesk for questions about the online platform. Both addresses are given on the page itself.
Strengths and limits
What Thieme documents well: the two publication models, who typically pays APCs, the existence of institutional funding agreements, and separate policies for double-dipping and waivers. Published in one place, these let an author work out the route before submitting.
What a reader still has to look up elsewhere: the actual APC for a specific journal and year, whether a given institution is a participant, and the journal-level metrics. Self-archiving terms are set journal by journal, so read the individual journal’s policy for them.
Alternatives and related routes
The table lists the routes Thieme itself names on its author and science pages, with the Thieme page where each is described. It is not a ranking of publishers.
| Route | What Thieme’s pages say | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| Open Access journal | Articles are freely available to readers worldwide; charges typically paid by authors, institutions or sponsors | Open Access page, APCs section |
| Hybrid Open Access | One of the two publication models of Thieme’s journals | Open Access page, APCs section |
| Institutional funding agreement | Authors at participating institutions publish open access at no or discounted cost | Funding Agreements, Participating Institutions |
| Read & Publish agreement | Signed with library consortia and research institutions | Science page, Open Science section |
| Waiver | Governed by a separate Waiver Policy | Waiver Policy page |
To compare Thieme with another publisher, read that publisher’s own open access and waiver pages in the same way. Our guide to APC waiver eligibility by publisher and region shows how those rules are usually structured.
FAQ
What is Thieme?
Thieme is a publishing group serving medicine and chemistry, with an imprint page for Georg Thieme Verlag KG. Its books and journals are available online through Thieme Connect.
Does Thieme offer open access?
Yes. Thieme states that its scientific journals follow either a Hybrid Open Access or an Open Access model, and that all of its journals offer the option to publish open access.
Who pays the article processing charge?
Thieme says the charges are typically paid by authors, institutions or sponsors. Where an institution has a funding agreement with Thieme, authors can publish at no or discounted cost.
Where is the current APC price list?
On Thieme’s open access page, under APCs. It is a downloadable list, so check it for the year of your submission.
Sources
- Thieme, Open Access (Journal Authors), checked 2026-10-29.
- Thieme, What we do: Science, checked 2026-10-29.
Related: Hybrid open access journals explained.
