Editing Open access (section)

==== Article processing charges ====
{{anchor|Author-pays model}}{{anchor|Fee-based}}
[[File:DOAJ APCs.png|thumb|Article processing charges by gold OA journals in DOAJ<ref name="Khing Phyo San"/>]]
{{see also|Article processing charge}}
Some open access journals (under the gold, and hybrid models) generate revenue by charging publication fees in order to make the work openly available at the time of publication.<ref name="Socha">{{Cite web |last=Socha |first=Beata |date=20 April 2017 |title=How Much Do Top Publishers Charge for Open Access? |url=http://openscience.com/how-much-do-top-publishers-charge-for-open-access/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219191851/https://openscience.com/how-much-do-top-publishers-charge-for-open-access/ |archive-date=19 February 2019 |access-date=26 April 2017 |website=openscience.com}}</ref><ref name="fuchs2013" /><ref name="Gaj">{{Cite journal |last=Gajović |first=S |date=31 August 2017 |title=Diamond Open Access in the quest for interdisciplinarity and excellence |journal=Croatian Medical Journal |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=261–262 |doi=10.3325/cmj.2017.58.261 |pmc=5577648 |pmid=28857518}}</ref> The money might come from the author but more often comes from the author's [[research grant]] or employer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peter |first=Suber |title=Open access |date=2012 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=9780262301732 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |oclc=795846161}}</ref> While the payments are typically incurred ''per article published'' (e.g. [[BMC journals|BMC]] or [[PLOS]] journals), some journals apply them ''per manuscript submitted'' (e.g. ''[[Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics]]'' until recently) or ''per author'' (e.g. [[PeerJ]]).

Charges typically range from $1,000–$3,000 ($5,380 for [[Nature Communications]])<ref name="GOA4" /><ref name="Khing Phyo San"/><ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.6087/kcse.227|title = Influence of open access journals on the research community in Journal Citation Reports|year = 2021|last1 = Kim|first1 = Sang-Jun|last2 = Park|first2 = Kay Sook|journal = Science Editing|volume = 8| issue=1 |pages = 32–38|s2cid = 233380569|doi-access = free}}</ref> but can be under $10,<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 March 2012 |title=An efficient journal |url=http://blogs.harvard.edu/pamphlet/2012/03/06/an-efficient-journal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118220214/http://blogs.harvard.edu/pamphlet/2012/03/06/an-efficient-journal/ |archive-date=18 November 2019 |access-date=27 October 2019 |website=The Occasional Pamphlet |language=en-US}}</ref> close to $5,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Article processing charges |url=https://www.nature.com/ncomms/about/article-processing-charges |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027110805/https://www.nature.com/ncomms/about/article-processing-charges |archive-date=27 October 2019 |access-date=27 October 2019 |publisher=Nature Communications |language=en}}</ref> or well over $10,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Publishing options |url=https://www.nature.com/nature/for-authors/publishing-options | publisher=Nature |language=en}}</ref> APCs vary greatly depending on subject and region and are most common in scientific and medical journals (43% and 47% respectively), and lowest in arts and humanities journals (0% and 4% respectively).<ref name="Kozak&Hartley">{{Cite journal |last1=Kozak |first1=Marcin |last2=Hartley |first2=James |date=December 2013 |title=Publication fees for open access journals: Different disciplines-different methods |journal=Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology |volume=64 |issue=12 |pages=2591–2594 |doi=10.1002/asi.22972}}</ref> APCs can also depend on a journal's impact factor.<ref name="Björk 2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Björk |first1=Bo-Christer |last2=Solomon |first2=David |year=2015 |title=Article Processing Charges in OA Journals: Relationship between Price and Quality |journal=Scientometrics |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=373–385 |doi=10.1007/s11192-015-1556-z |s2cid=15966412}}</ref><ref name="Lawson 2014">{{Citation|last=Lawson |first=Stuart |year=2014 |title=APC Pricing |publisher=Figshare |doi=10.6084/m9.figshare.1056280.v3}}</ref><ref name="Björk 2014">{{Cite web |title=Developing an Effective Market for Open Access Article Processing Charges. |url=https://wellcome.ac.uk/sites/default/files/developing-effective-market-for-open-access-article-processing-charges-mar14.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003011716/https://wellcome.ac.uk/sites/default/files/developing-effective-market-for-open-access-article-processing-charges-mar14.pdf |archive-date=3 October 2018 |access-date=28 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="Schönfelder 2018">{{Cite web|last=Schönfelder |first=Nina |year=2018 |title=APCs—Mirroring the Impact Factor or Legacy of the Subscription-Based Model? |url=https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2931061 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222093225/https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2931061 |archive-date=22 December 2019 |access-date=28 August 2019}}</ref> Some publishers (e.g. [[eLife]] and [[Ubiquity Press]]) have released estimates of their direct and indirect costs that set their APCs.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 September 2016 |title=Setting a fee for publication |url=https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/b6365b76/setting-a-fee-for-publication |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107002917/https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/b6365b76/setting-a-fee-for-publication |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=27 October 2019 |website=eLife |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ubiquity Press |url=https://www.ubiquitypress.com/site/publish/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021065134/https://www.ubiquitypress.com/site/publish/ |archive-date=21 October 2019 |access-date=27 October 2019 |website=www.ubiquitypress.com}}</ref> Hybrid OA generally costs more than gold OA and can offer a lower quality of service.<ref name="auto"/> A particularly controversial practice in hybrid open access journals is "[[Double dipping (publishing)|double dipping]]", where both authors and subscribers are charged.<ref name="Open access double dipping policy"/>

By comparison, journal subscriptions equate to $3,500–$4,000 per article published by an institution, but are highly variable by publisher (and some charge page fees separately). This has led to the assessment that there is enough money "within the system" to enable full transition to OA.<ref name="Schimmer 2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Schimmer |first1=Ralf |last2=Geschuhn |first2=Kai Karin |last3=Vogler |first3=Andreas |year=2015 |title=Disrupting the Subscription Journals" Business Model for the Necessary Large-Scale Transformation to Open Access |journal=MPG.PuRe Repository |doi=10.17617/1.3}}</ref> However, there is ongoing discussion about whether the change-over offers an opportunity to become more cost-effective or promotes more equitable participation in publication.<ref name="TenMyths">{{Cite journal |last1=Vanholsbeeck |first1=Marc |last2=Thacker |first2=Paul |last3=Sattler |first3=Susanne |last4=Ross-Hellauer |first4=Tony |last5=Rivera-López |first5=Bárbara S. |last6=Rice |first6=Curt |last7=Nobes |first7=Andy |last8=Masuzzo |first8=Paola |last9=Martin |first9=Ryan |last10=Kramer |first10=Bianca |last11=Havemann |first11=Johanna |date=11 March 2019 |title=Ten Hot Topics around Scholarly Publishing |journal=Publications |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=34 |doi=10.3390/publications7020034 |doi-access=free |first12=Asura |last12=Enkhbayar |first13=Jacinto |last13=Davila |first14=Tom |last14=Crick |first15=Harry |last15=Crane |first16=Jonathan P. |last16=Tennant}}</ref> Concern has been noted that increasing subscription journal prices will be mirrored by rising APCs, creating a barrier to less financially privileged authors.<ref name="Björk 2017b">{{Cite journal |last=Björk |first=B. C. |year=2017 |title=Growth of Hybrid Open Access |journal=PeerJ |volume=5 |pages=e3878 |doi=10.7717/peerj.3878 |pmc=5624290 |pmid=28975059 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Pinfield 2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Pinfield |first1=Stephen |last2=Salter |first2=Jennifer |last3=Bath |first3=Peter A. |year=2016 |title=The 'Total Cost of Publication" in a Hybrid Open-Access Environment: Institutional Approaches to Funding Journal Article-Processing Charges in Combination with Subscriptions |url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/81227/1/TCP%20and%20OA%20revised%20JASIST%20WRRO.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology |volume=67 |issue=7 |pages=1751–1766 |doi=10.1002/asi.23446 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605221816/http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/81227/1/TCP%20and%20OA%20revised%20JASIST%20WRRO.pdf |archive-date=5 June 2019 |access-date=9 September 2019 |s2cid=17356533}}</ref><ref name="Green 2019">{{Cite journal |last=Green |first=Toby |year=2019 |title=Is Open Access Affordable? Why Current Models Do Not Work and Why We Need Internet-Era Transformation of Scholarly Communications |journal=Learned Publishing |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=13–25 |doi=10.1002/leap.1219|doi-access=free |s2cid=67869151 }}</ref>

The inherent bias of the current APC-based OA publishing perpetuates this inequality through the '[[Matthew effect]]' (the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer). The switch from pay-to-read to pay-to-publish has left essentially the same people behind, with some academics not having enough purchasing power (individually or through their institutions) for either option.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pourret|first1=Olivier|last2=Hedding|first2=David William|last3=Ibarra|first3=Daniel Enrique|last4=Irawan|first4=Dasapta Erwin|last5=Liu|first5=Haiyan|last6=Tennant|first6=Jonathan Peter|date=2021-06-10|title=International disparities in open access practices in the Earth Sciences|url=https://ese.arphahub.com/article/63663/|journal=European Science Editing|volume=47|pages=e63663|doi=10.3897/ese.2021.e63663|s2cid=236300530|issn=2518-3354 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Some gold OA publishers will waive all or part of the fee for authors from [[Developing country|less developed economies]]. Steps are normally taken to ensure that [[peer review]]ers do not know whether authors have requested, or been granted, fee waivers, or to ensure that every paper is approved by an independent editor with no financial stake in the journal.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} The main argument against requiring authors to pay a fee, is the risk to the [[peer review]] system, diminishing the overall quality of scientific journal publishing.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}