CCC’s RightsLink for Scientific Communications Customers Can Now Accept Author Payments for Article Publishing Charges in Chinese Yuan

CCC (Copyright Clearance Center), a pioneer in voluntary collective licensing, has announced a collaboration with China Educational Publications Import & Export Corporation (CEPIEC), the leading distributor of international published content to the Chinese market and of Chinese language content to the rest of the world.

As part of the arrangement, CCC will integrate CEPIEC’s SocoPay payment system into CCC’s Open Access (OA) workflow solution, RightsLink for Scientific Communications (RLSC), which enables scholarly journal publishers of all sizes to manage institutional OA agreements, collect article publishing charges (APCs), and facilitate Subscribe to Open (S2O) programs.

“The CEPIEC payment process will serve a vital regional need in CCC’s leading OA workflow solution,” said Zegui Xie, Vice President, CEPIEC. “Authors can conveniently complete APC payments using popular Chinese internet payment applications such as WeChat and AliPay, making it easier than ever to manage article publishing charges.”

“This integration will enhance the billing and payment of publication charges that CCC collects on publishers’ behalf from authors in China,” said Emily Sheahan, Vice President and Managing Director, CCC. “Authors in China will now enjoy a localized payment experience tailored to their needs within RLSC.”

Integrated with leading submission systems, RLSC is a turnkey workflow automation solution that simplifies OA management for publishers, funders, consortia/institutions, and authors. RLSC accommodates both single payments and consolidated funding through OA institutional agreements and S2O arrangements, presenting authors with OA funding options during article submission and acceptance processes as an alternative to manually managing OA funding eligibility or payment processing across various sources.

CCC advocates for copyright worldwide by engaging governments, stakeholders, and individuals with educational programming and thought leadership resources. The organization also maintains an online hub, AI, Copyright & Licensing, which features informational resources for creators, publishers, rightsholders, technologists, media representatives, policymakers, intellectual property attorneys, and others.

Since 1978, CCC has supported content users by providing efficient, collective licensing solutions, with harmonized rights, for their content uses. CCC’s non-exclusive voluntary collective licensing solutions include Annual Copyright License (ACL) for Business, Multinational Copyright License (MCL) for Business, ACL for Higher Education, ACL for Curriculum & Instruction, and ACL for Student Assessments. In addition to collective licensing solutions, CCC provides one-stop access for users to request, receive, and pay for full-text content and permissions to reuse content.

CEPIEC, established in 1987 under China’s Ministry of Education, is a national-level cultural import-export enterprise. With a mission to serve education and research, the company specializes in importing and exporting publications, including books, journals, and digital resources. It also engages in copyright trading and international exhibitions. In response to the growth of open access, CEPIEC has developed innovative platforms such as Socolar and SocoPay to enhance global research collaboration and promote wider and faster sharing of scientific outcomes.

For more information about CCC, visit copyright.com. For more information about RLSC, visit copyright.com/rlsc.

About CCC (Copyright Clearance Center)

A pioneer in voluntary collective licensing, CCC has been dedicated to advancing copyright, accelerating knowledge, and powering innovation since its inception in 1978. Today, CCC supports a thriving knowledge economy as a trusted intermediary, providing licensing solutions that make copyright work, including collective licensing solutions for the use of copyrighted materials with AI systems. CCC also offers a portfolio of innovative and complementary software solutions, as well as high-quality content, data, and information services.

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This integration will enhance the billing and payment of publication charges that CCC collects on publishers’ behalf from authors in China. Authors in China will now enjoy a localized payment.