Publication fees (APC)

What is an APC and what is it used for?

APCs (Article Processing Charges) are publication fees. They enable the author of a scientific article to publish it in open access, so that the entire text is can be accessed freely by all readers.
APC are paid by the author or, more often, by their institution. The economic model is therefore "author pays".

Two types of scientific journals may request APC payments:

• hybrid journals, which offer both subscription-based and open access articles. In this type of journal, APC are optional, with the author always having the option of opting for a traditional paid-subscription publication;
• fully open-access journals: APC are often mandatory for these.

Certain additional charges (for colour figures or extra pages) are not covered by the APC. Such charges only relate to the option for authors to publish in open access.

Do I have to pay APC to publish in open access?

Not necessarily. It is perfectly possible to publish in open access without having to pay publication fees.

To do so, you can look for journals that do not require APC:

• Check the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to see whether the journal in which you wish to publish has APC, and if so, how much they charge. You can search by: subject, journal title, publisher, then refine with the criteria "Article Processing Charge APC", License.   
• Consider alternative models, such as epi-journals with Episciences.org, or the open journals distributed by the Centre Mersenne, SciPost, Knowledge Unlatched, LingOA, MathOA, OpenEdition, ...

Find out more about open access publications

How much should you pay?

Whichever type of journal you choose, you need to ensure that the amount of the APC remains reasonable. It can vary widely from one journal to another, and from one publisher to another. The average cost for APC is estimated at:

• approximately €1,500 for a fully open-access journal.
• approximately €2,500 for a hybrid journal.

Please note: This is just an average. Some publishers charge prohibitive prices in excess of €4,000 (some prestigious journals, for example, have APC of €9,500).

Please note: some publishers increase their prices by charging additional fees for colour pages and/or figures in addition to the APC.

Authors need to be vigilant throughout the entire process, from submission to publication: the fact that the article is subject to APC may be a simple checkbox with little explanation and no possibility of retraction, even if APC are optional.

It is strongly recommend that you always check the journal's open access policy before submission, by consulting, for example, the Sherpa/Romeo database or the Mir@bel knowledge base (Mutualisation d'Informations sur les Revues et leurs Accès dans les Bases En Ligne - Sharing information on journals and their access in online databases).

How do I find out if my institution has an agreement entitling it to a discount or reimbursement?

In most cases, online documentary resources are the subject of national, annual or multi-year negotiations between the Couperin Consortium and the relevant publishers.
Some of these negotiations provide for full or partial payment of the APC, either using a "voucher" system (a voucher is a coupon offering a prepaid APC, and therefore "free" to the author), or through discounts on the unit amount of the APC.
Authors belonging to the scientific disciplines of Université Paris-Saclay can benefit from some of these agreements. A list of these is given below.

The allocation of discounts or prepaid APC is automatic based on the author's affiliation with Université Paris-Saclay.

This table lists the agreements currently enjoyed by authors in the scientific disciplines of Université Paris-Saclay. It is not intended as an incentive to publish with the publishers listed below.  

Please note: prepaid APCs are not free, but are financed by the University. None of the above submissions are free.             

Prepaid APCs are not an incentive to publish with the publishers concerned.      

For more information, please contact your research coordinator or send a message to science.ouverte[at]universite-paris-saclay.fr, to benefit from the best conditions.

Who pays?

Normally, APC are paid by the institutions. In general, the first author of an article negotiates with the publisher.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at science.ouverte[at]universite-paris-saclay.fr to check that the best conditions have been applied (special conditions apply to national contracts with publishers such as ACS, Elsevier, PNAS, Royal Society of Chemistry, Wiley or EDP Sciences).

Whatever the payment method (laboratory card, researcher's personal card, quotation, purchase order, invoice, European project, etc.), it is essential to include all the information needed to identify the published article on the purchasing documents (first elements of the title, name of the relevant journal, etc.).

Some publishers offer to split the invoice between the various authors. This can make the amounts of these "split invoices" seem more acceptable.

It is therefore essential to ask for the total amount of the APC and the amount of each person's share to be shown on invoices, to make it easier for laboratory managers, the institution's financial and accounting departments or your librarians to track these expenses.