8. Why a flat charge rather than one based on page numbers?
Research staff and students at Stanford University:Do you realize that you will get a 15% discount on the article-processing charges of all research articles accepted for publication in journals published by BioMed Central including Chemistry Central and SpringerOpen? Read more information about publishing your articles with BioMed Central.
The size of an article is a poor indicator of the actual amount of work involved in obtaining peer reviews and in preparing the article for publication. A more useful discriminator might be the state an article is in when submitted, and its complexity, but the lack of objective tools to measure these has led us to conclude that a flat fee is the fairest approach at this stage.
- Why do BioMed Central journals have article-processing charges?
- What do the article-processing charges pay for?
- How much is BioMed Central charging?
- Does BioMed Central offer discounts on article-processing charges?
- How do BioMed Central's charges compare with other publishers?
- Are any taxes included in this charge?
- To which articles will this charge apply?
- Why a flat charge rather than one based on page numbers?
- Who is responsible for making the payment?
- Which funding agencies explicitly allow direct use of their grants to cover article-processing charges?
- How do I pay?
- Can charges be waived if the author cannot pay?
- Will I have to pay if my institution is a Member?
- Will the APC rate I am given at submission change?
- Do authors from low-income countries have to pay APCs?

