In the late 1990s chemists were among the early adopters of open access (OA) publishing. As it happened with preprints, the early successful adoption of OA publishing from chemists subsequently slowed down. In 2016 chemistry was found to be the discipline with the lowest fraction of OA papers amid papers in all fields published between 2009 and 2015. To benefit from open science in terms of enhanced citations, collaboration, job and funding opportunities, chemistry scholars need updated information (and education) on open science of practical relevance. Suggesting avenues for quick uptake of OA publishing from chemists in both developed and developing countries, this study offers a critical perspective on academic publishing in the chemical sciences that will be useful to inform the aforementioned education.