What are Article Process Charges?

Article Processing Charges (APCs) are the fees charged by hybrid journals to enable the publication of a research paper via the Gold route to Open Access. These charges will vary between publishers and even between journals from the same publisher. The publisher websites provide details of the relevant APCs.

UKRI does not impose any caps on APCs and they may vary between a few hundred to several thousand Pounds Sterling. They are usually quoted in $US but some publishers require payments in Euros. In practice this means that the final fee in Pounds Sterling is not fixed but varies with the exchange rate on the day a payment is made.

Discounts are sometimes available if an author is a member of a learned society. Occasionally discounts also apply if an institution subscribes to all the journals from a specific publisher. Check with any co-authors and/or the Library whether either of these two apply.