Article Processing Charges

Publishing fees/article processing charges (APCs) are associated with the gold way of open access. Publishing fees are paid by authors to publishers when their scientific article is published in the open access way.

Publication fees cover the working of the open access journal and the costs associated with publishing articles (providing peer review, running the editorial system and website, etc.). This model replaces the traditional business model based on journal subscriptions.

APC fee amount

• it depends on the prestige of the journal/publisher, and it also depends on the field of research;
• ranging from hundreds to thousands of euros (or other currencies). Some journals do not require APCs from authors (journals published by universities, scientific societies or non-profit organisations, etc.);
• APC fee information should be transparent, searchable on the publisher's website.

ATTENTION! If the publisher does not specify whether a fee is required and how much, it may be a predatory journal. These journals parasitise the idea of open access and try to use the open access publishing model only for their business activities. Publishing does not go through the traditional peer review process, and the most important part of the process is clearly the publication fee payment. For more information, see Predatory Publishing. 

Who pays for the APC

• the fee is paid by the author;
• it is usually paid for by the university or research organisation that the author works for;
• it can be covered by the budget of a grant or research project (H2020, ERC, MŠMT, etc.).