Article processing charge
What is an article processing charge (APC)?
An article processing charge (APC), sometimes called a publication fee, is the fee some journals charge the author side — the author, a funder or an institution — for publishing an accepted article, most often so that the article is open access from the day it appears. It is normally due after acceptance. Many open-access journals charge none at all, and a fee demanded before or during peer review is a warning sign rather than a normal APC.
Definition
An APC is the charge a journal levies for publishing an article, paid by the author or on the author's behalf. It is the main business model of gold open-access publishing: instead of readers and libraries paying for access, the author side pays once and the article is free for everyone to read. Hybrid subscription journals charge an APC only when the author chooses the open-access option for an individual article; the rest of the journal stays behind the subscription.
An APC is not a submission fee, which a small number of journals charge on submission regardless of the outcome, and it is not a page or colour charge, which some subscription journals still add for length or colour figures. If a journal's fee page lists several charges, ask which applies to an accepted, open-access article.
When it is due, and who pays it
A legitimate APC is invoiced after the editorial decision to accept and before publication. A journal that asks for money before review, during review, or as a condition of being reviewed at all is not charging an APC in the normal sense — that pattern is one of the clearest warning signs of a predatory journal.
Who pays varies. Funders with open-access mandates often pay the fee directly or allow it as an eligible grant cost; many universities hold publishing agreements with particular publishers that cover APCs for their authors; and most reputable open-access publishers offer waivers or discounts to authors from lower-income economies and to authors without funding. Check the journal's own fee page for its policy rather than assuming one applies.
Diamond, gold and hybrid
Three open-access models, distinguished by who pays:
- Diamond (or platinum) open access — no APC and no subscription; the journal is funded by an institution, a society or a consortium. Common among society, university and national journals.
- Gold open access — every article is open access and the journal is funded by APCs (or by a mix of APCs and institutional support).
- Hybrid — a subscription journal that makes an individual article open access when the author pays an APC for it.
- Green open access is not a journal model but an author route: depositing an accepted manuscript in a repository, usually with no fee, alongside publication in a subscription journal.
What to check before you submit
Five questions the fee page should answer clearly:
- Is there an APC at all, and is it charged only on acceptance? A fee before or during review is a red flag.
- What is the current amount, and what does it cover — is there a separate charge for extra pages, colour figures or supplementary files?
- Is there a waiver or discount policy, and do you qualify under your funder, your institution's agreements or the publisher's own criteria?
- Does your funder require open access, and does it pay the fee or cap what it will reimburse?
- Is the journal indexed where it claims to be, and is it listed in DOAJ? A high fee at a journal with no verifiable indexing is a worse deal than no fee at a legitimate diamond journal.
Where we show it, and what a missing line means
Our journal profiles at /journals carry an APC line for journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), which records whether each journal charges an APC and, where the journal has declared it, the amount. The line is DOAJ's record of the journal's own declaration — not a price we set or verified — and it appears only for DOAJ-listed journals. A profile with no APC line means we hold no record, not that the journal is free to publish in. 'Free to publish' on a profile means DOAJ lists no APC for that journal. Fees change: confirm the current amount on the journal's site before you submit.