The Truth About Open Access Fees: What You Need to Know Before Submitting to APC Journals

Open access (OA) publishing refers to research outputs like journal articles, conference papers, and books that are distributed online and free of cost or other access barriers. The primary goal of the open access movement is to make scholarly research freely available to all potential readers, not just those associated with institutions that charge subscription fees for journals.

The idea of open access publishing first emerged in the 1990s with the creation of repositories like arXiv for sharing preprint papers. The exorbitant subscription expenses of academic journals posed challenges for researchers and institutions in accessing the most recent research. The open access movement advocates for public-funded research to be available to all members of society.

Open-access publishing has a multitude of benefits. It enables wider dissemination of research findings, allowing individuals with internet connectivity to access OA articles. This increased accessibility leads to enhanced readership and potential citations for authors.

Open access is instrumental in providing researchers in developing countries with access to current research, thereby accelerating the research process by removing access barriers. Overall, open access promotes scientific collaboration, stimulates innovation, and advances human progress by broadening access to knowledge.

Article Processing Charges: open access publication costs

Article processing charges (APCs) are fees paid by authors or their institutions to publish articles with open access in academic journals. APCs enable publishers to recover publishing costs and make articles freely available online immediately after publication. ( You May Also Like: The Dark side of Academic Publishing)

APC journals typically range from $500 to $5,000 per article, with an average cost of around $2,000-$3,000. The exact fee depends on factors like the publisher, journal prestige, and article type. High-impact journals from major publishers tend to have higher APCs.

By paying APCs, authors sponsor their articles to be open access, meaning they are free to read and share for all. The APC payments from multiple authors collectively cover the publisher’s costs of managing peer review, editing, production, hosting, and long-term preservation. This allows the publisher to operate without paywalls or subscriptions.

APCs are the central means for funding open access publishing. Authors or institutions pay fees on a per-article basis, which gives their work open visibility while supporting the underlying publication infrastructure.

Factors Impacting APCs: open access fees

Several factors can significantly vary the article processing charges:

Journal Prestige/Impact Factor

More prestigious journals with higher impact factors tend to charge higher APCs. These journals often receive a high volume of article submissions, so they can justify charging more. Top-tier journals like Nature and Science charge APCs over $5,000.

Less prestigious or niche journals may cost a few hundred dollars. The perceived value and visibility of publishing in a high-impact journal allow them to demand higher APCs.

Country of Publication

In different countries, the average APCs charged by journals differ significantly. Journals published in the UK tend to have some of the highest APCs.

The global average APC in 2019 was around $1,500, while the average APC for UK-based journals was over $2,600. In developing countries, journals often have lower APCs, sometimes under $100. Domestic journals don’t need to charge as much to be competitive in their local markets.

Subject Area

APCs can vary widely, depending on the academic discipline. The natural sciences and medicine have embraced open access publishing more than other fields. Biomedical journals tend to charge some of the highest APCs, with prices frequently exceeding $2,000.

However, in the humanities and social sciences, APCs under $1,000 are more typical. The norms regarding open access and the availability of research funds differ greatly across academic fields. This contributes to major differences in typical publication fees.

APCs and Authors

An open-access journal typically requires the author to pay the article processing charge (APC) after accepting an article for publication. However, the cost of APCs can be prohibitive for some authors, especially independent researchers or those from institutions with limited funding.

Most open-access journals offer APC waivers or discounts in certain situations. Authors from developing countries are often eligible for full or partial APC waivers if they cannot secure funding.

Some publishers also provide automatic waivers for authors from low-income countries as classified by the World Bank. Additionally, discounts may be available based on the author’s home country or institutional affiliation.

Authors should inquire about potential APC waivers or discounts when considering submitting to an open-access journal. Policies vary between publishers, but options often exist to reduce or eliminate APC costs for eligible authors.

Funds to cover open access publishing fees may also be available through the author’s institution or external grant funding. Fee support can make open-access publications financially viable for researchers who otherwise cannot afford the charges.

Generally, the goal of APCs is to maintain open-access journals without preventing authors from publishing due to financial constraints. Waivers and discounts help increase inclusion and accessibility for authors worldwide, especially those from resource-constrained settings. This allows more researchers to reap the benefits of sharing their work through open access.

Criticisms of the APC Model

One of the main criticisms of the APC model for open access publishing is that it can create barriers to authors being able to publish their work, particularly those with limited research funding.

There is a prevalent argument that the APC model provides advantages to researchers affiliated with well-funded institutions in developed countries, thereby hindering participation for authors from less affluent institutions and developing nations. This disparity raises concerns that open access, within the APC framework, fails to adequately expand access to research.

Critics highlight the unequal distribution of research funding, with authors in certain fields, such as the humanities and social sciences, receiving fewer grant resources than scientists and medical researchers.

Younger scholars and independent researchers are also less likely to have funding support available.
This implies that authors without institutional funding or grants might find it difficult to cover the APCs themselves. Having to find several thousand dollars to make an article open-access could deter submissions and participation in open-access publishing.

There are also concerns that a system based on the ability to pay APCs could incentivize quantity over quality, with researchers pressured to continually publish in journals that provide open access only to those able to pay.

Some see the APC model as substituting one barrier to access (subscriptions) for another (fees). Rather than democratizing knowledge, high APCs could exclude authors and reduce diverse viewpoints in the literature.
Another major criticism of APC-funded open access is the risk of enabling predatory publishing practices. The combination of high author fees and an open access model creates an environment where exploitative journals can thrive.

Predatory journals exploit the APC model by charging substantial fees without providing rigorous peer review or editorial services. This has led to an explosion of low-quality journals that exist primarily to collect APC payments rather than further research.

Although APCs are not intrinsically predatory, prioritizing revenue from publishing fees over quality control is considered detrimental to the open access objective. We need more oversight and standards to address unethical practices under the APC model.

Alternatives to APCs

There are several alternatives to Article Processing Charges (APCs) that can help fund open access publishing. Some of the main options include:

Institutional Support

Many universities and research institutions provide financial support to cover APCs for researchers affiliated with them. This helps make open-access publications free for individual authors. Institutional funds may come from the library budget, central administration funds, endowments, or other sources. Some institutions have set up dedicated open access publishing funds.

Donations and Subsidies

Some open-access journals utilize donations, subsidies, and grants to cover costs instead of charging authors. These donations can come from foundations, non-profit organizations, corporations, governments, or individuals. Major funders mandating open access, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the European Commission, often provide subsidies as well.

Advertising Revenue

Selling advertising space can generate revenue for open-access journals. Publishers can place display ads on the journal website or within the articles themselves. However, many publishers avoid this option to prevent the perception of influence on editorial decisions. Some journals allow corporate sponsors, but the arrangements are disclosed transparently.

APCs in Developing Countries

The high costs of article processing present significant barriers to researchers in developing countries who wish to publish open access. On average, APCs range from $500 to $5000 USD per article, which can be prohibitively expensive for scholars in low-income regions.

Many developing countries lack access to research funding that could cover APCs. Most authors in these regions rely on personal funds or institutional subsidies to pay for publication fees. This limits their ability to publish frequently or in prestigious journals that charge higher APCs.

Several initiatives aim to make open-access publishing more affordable in the developing world. Charities like Research4Life provide researchers in low-income countries with free or discounted access to journals. Some publishers offer full or partial APC waivers to authors from developing countries.

However, funding availability frequently determines the availability of waivers. This raises doubts about the continuation of discounts in upcoming years. There are also concerns that waivers go disproportionately to researchers at elite institutions rather than those most in need.

Additional efforts are required to make open access equitably available worldwide. This could include establishing more robust APC subsidy programs, creating regional open access journals with lower fees, or advocating for a move away from the APC model entirely. Overcoming affordability barriers will be key for open access to fulfill its potential in developing countries.

The Future of Open Access

We predict that the open access publishing model will continue to grow over the coming years. A study published in 2021 predicts that open access could make up 50–60% of all scholarly publishing by 2025. Several factors, including the following, will drive this growth:

• Continued push by research funders and institutions for open dissemination of research. Funders like the NIH, the Wellcome Trust, and the European Commission are increasingly mandating open-access publishing for funded research.
• Transition of prominent subscription journals to open access models. High-profile journals like Nature Communications have already made the switch, with more expected to follow.
• Rise of “read and publish” type agreements between institutions, consortiums, and publishers. These deals bundle subscription access with open-access publishing rights, making it easier for researchers to publish OA.
• Increased adoption of “transformative” type agreements that aim to shift subscription budgets to support open access publishing fees.
• Continued launch of reputable OA-only journals, providing more high-quality publication venues.

While the APC model currently dominates OA publishing, new models are emerging that could supplant it in the future:

Subscribe to Open: Consortia pay an annual fee to make all articles by affiliated researchers open access immediately upon publication. Removes the need for individual APCs.

Crowdfunding: Researchers raise funds from the public to cover APC for a specific article. Democratizes support for OA.

Institutional subsidies: rather than authors paying APCs, institutions centrally fund publication charges by authors. Shields authors from costs.

Grants or funds to cover APCs: Specific grants or funds established, often by universities, to offload APC costs from authors.

The open-access landscape will continue to evolve rapidly in the coming years. While challenges remain around costs and implementation, momentum is clearly behind OA becoming a major part of the scholarly publishing ecosystem.

Conclusions

Open-access publishing, funded by article processing charges, has revolutionized scholarly communication by making research freely available to all. However, APCs have also created challenges, pricing some authors and institutions out of publishing in open access journals. Despite criticisms, the APC model remains the dominant form of funding open access today.

Key points covered in this article include:

• APCs help fund editorial and publishing costs to make articles free to access. Standard fees are around $2000 but can range higher.
• APCs pose a barrier for some authors, especially those with limited funding. This leads to concerns about equity.
• Lower-income countries struggle to pay high APCs. Waivers and discounts help authors from developing nations.
• Some see APCs as an unsustainable model that restricts the dissemination of knowledge. Alternatives like institutional subsidies exist but are less widespread.
• Predatory publishers exploit APCs to profit from academia without proper peer review and editing. This harms trust in open access.

Despite valid criticisms, APCs currently provide the main revenue stream for open-access journals. Most experts feel open access provides significant benefits that outweigh the challenges of APCs.

Moving forward, the transition to open access necessitates making APC-funded publishing more cost-effective and sustainable while upholding stringent quality standards. Open access, through ongoing evolution, holds significant potential to propel scholarship forward and enhance global access to knowledge.

References

This article’s content reflects the author’s proficiency and understanding of academic publishing and open access trends. Serving as a comprehensive overview of a multifaceted subject, it endeavors to present a well-rounded viewpoint independently, without leaning on external sources.

The goal is to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of article processing charges and the discussions surrounding this method of financing open access. Despite the absence of direct quotes or citations, the author has shaped the analysis through years of research and professional experience.

Any facts or figures are approximate estimates to illustrate key points. This article represents the author’s original synthesis of a multifaceted issue. The intent is not to provide exhaustive coverage but rather a useful introduction. We encourage readers to deepen their understanding of this evolving realm through further investigation.