Comparison of BioMed Central's article-processing charges with those of other publishers
BioMed Central's standard Article Processing Charge (APC) is £1075 - see our Article Processing Charge FAQ for full details. BioMed Central's APCs compare very favorably with those of other publishers, as shown below:
| Publisher/Journal | Article-processing charge | $US equivalent | Submission fee? | Immediately available through PubMed Central? | Open access license allowing redistribution and reuse? | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BioMed Central | |||||||
| Typical BioMed Central journal | £1075-£1230 | ~$1665-$1905 | - |  |
|
||
| American Chemical Society | |||||||
| ACS AuthorChoice | $3000 discounts for ACS members and researchers at subscribing institutions. | $3000 | - |  |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| American Society for Clinical Investigation | |||||||
| Journal of Clinical Investigation | ~$2500 + $100 per figure, $50 per table + $1000 for color printing + $300 for supplemental data | ~$2500 + $100 per figure, $50 per table + $1000 for color printing + $300 for supplemental data | $75 | |
|
||
| American Society for Microbiology | |||||||
| mBio | $3000 (max. 8 pages) + $285 for supplemental material | $3000 (max. 8 pages) + $285 for supplemental material | - | |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| American Physiological Society | |||||||
| Author Choice program | $2000 + research article page charge $75 per page $400 per color figure. Review articles $3000 inclusive. |
$2000 + research article page charge $75 per page. $400 per color figure. Review articles $3000 inclusive. |
$50 | |
|
||
| BMJ Publishing Group | |||||||
| BMJ (flagship journal) | £2500 (subject to research funder covering the full amount) |
$3930 (subject to research funder covering the full amount) |
- | |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| 'Unlocked' program - BMJ Unlocked | £1700 | $3145 | - | (articles are immediately deposited in PMC) |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| BMJ Open | £1200 | $1885 | - | (articles are immediately deposited in PMC) | (excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| BRILL | |||||||
| BrillOpen | €2000 + €500 per color printed page | $2800 where applicable + $658 per color printed page |
- | |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Cambridge University Press | |||||||
| Cambridge Open Option | £1695 + color/page charges may be applied to print versions |
$2700 + color/page charges may be applied to print versions |
- | (authors have the right to deposit in PubMed Central) |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Cell Press | |||||||
| Cell Reports | $5000 | $5000 | - | |
|
||
| Co-Action Publishing | |||||||
| Co-Action Publishing | €233-€950 + pages charges if article >7-10 pages |
$305 - $1250 + pages charges if article >7-10 pages |
- | (Only if explicitly required by funder) |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Company of Biologists | |||||||
| Company of Biologists | £1350 | ~$1965 | - | (If research is funded by NIH, Wellcome Trust, HHMI, UK MRC) |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Elsevier | |||||||
| Sponsored Article program | $3000-$5000 per article (except The Lancet: £400 per page) + additional charges e.g. colour printing |
$3000-$5000 per article (except The Lancet: $630 per page) + additional charges e.g. colour printing |
- | (Of final document used to generate the published journal article) |
|
||
| Cell Reports | $5000 |
$5000 |
- | |
|
||
| Hindawi | |||||||
| Typical open access journal | $300-$1500 | $300-$1500 | - | |
|
||
| Journal of Medical Internet Research | |||||||
| Journal of Medical Internet Research (PDFs available for free only to paid members) |
$1900 + optional $450 fast track fee |
$1900 + optional $450 fast track fee |
$90 for regular papers and $500 for protocol/grant proposal review | |
(excludes PDFs) |
||
| Journal of Neuroscience | |||||||
| Journal of Neuroscience Open Choice | $980 publication fee + $2575 open access fee +$1000 per color figure |
$980 publication fee + $2575 open access fee +$1000 per color figure |
$125 | |
(After six months, excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Maney Publishing | |||||||
| MORE OpenChoice | £1250 + additional charges may apply (e.g. colour printing, pages, offprints etc) |
$2000 + additional charges may apply (e.g. colour printing, pages, offprints etc) |
- | (Only if explicitly required by funder) |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| National Academy of Sciences | |||||||
| Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access option |
$1300 + additional charges: $70 per page, supplementary information £250/$500, colour charges $200 per figure. |
$1300 + additional charges: $70 per page, supplementary information £250/$500, colour charges $200 per figure. |
- | |
|
||
| Nature Publishing Group | |||||||
| Selected journals published by NPG | £2000-£2500 + additional charges |
$3000-$3900 + additional charges |
- | (upon author request) |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Molecular Systems Biology | $3900 + $900 publishing fee | $3900 + $900 publishing fee | - | (upon author request) |
(excludes commercial reuse |
||
| Nature Communications | £3035 | $5000 | - | (upon author request) |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| EMBO Journal | $3900 + additional £158/$242 page charge |
$3900 + additional £158/$242 page charge |
- | (upon author request) |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Oxford University Press | |||||||
| Nucleic Acids Research | £1420 + £100/$195 per page from 10th page |
$2770 + £100/$195 per page from 10th page |
- | |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Oxford Open journals | £1700 + color and page charges |
$3000 + color and page charges |
- | |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Public Library of Science | |||||||
| PLoS Biology, PLoS Medicine | $2900 | $2900 | - | |
|
||
| PLoS Pathogens, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Genetics, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases | $2250 | $2250 | - | |
|
||
| PLoS One | $1350 | $1350 | - | |
|
||
| Royal Society | |||||||
| EXiS Open Choice | £1400 | $2380 | - | |
|
||
| Open Biology | £1200 | $1932 | - | |
|
||
| Royal Society of Chemistry | |||||||
| RSC Open Science | £1000-£2500 (depending on article type) |
~$1570-$3930 (depending on article type) |
- | (upon author request) |
|
||
| Sage | |||||||
| Sage choice | £1600 | $3000 | - | |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Springer | |||||||
| OpenChoice | $3000 (+ color print and page charges) |
$3000 (+ color print and page charges) |
- | (where within scope of PubMed Central) |
|
||
| Typical SpringerOpen journal | £440-£1250 | $645-$1935 | - | (where within scope of PubMed Central) |
|
||
| SpringerPlus | £700 | $1085 | - | (where within scope of PubMed Central) |
|
||
| Taylor & Francis | |||||||
| Open Select | £1725 | $3250 | - | |
(excludes derivative works and commercial reuse) |
||
| Taylor & Francis Open | $995-$1500 | $995-$1500 | - | |
|
||
| Wiley-Blackwell | |||||||
| Online Open | $3000 | $3000 | - | |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
| Typical open access journals | £1200-£1625 | $1850-$2500 | - | |
(excludes commercial reuse) |
||
Notes
- Many publishers (including BioMed Central) offer discounts to institutional subscribers / Members.
- The prices listed in this table were last updated on 26 January 2012. Please contact info@biomedcentral.com with any updates or corrections.
- Some open access journals (including several from BioMed Central) charge no article-processing charges to authors, but cover their costs in other ways - e.g. some are directly supported by a host institution. The table above lists only journals where article-processing charges are the primary form of support.
- The column headed "Open access license allowing redistribution and reuse?" indicates whether a Creative Commons or similar license is used, granting universal rights of redistribution and reuse for the official final version of the article.
- The prices above do not take into account taxes where they may be applicable.