What Does "No Publication Fee" Mean?
Publishing your research in an open access journal normally comes with an Article Processing Charge (APC) — a fee paid by the author (or their institution) to make the article freely available to all readers. APCs range from a few hundred to over $10,000 USD for some prestigious journals.
However, many high-quality journals publish open access at no cost to the author. These fall into two main categories:
- Diamond Open Access — Journals that are free to read AND free to publish in. Typically funded by universities, research institutions, or academic societies.
- APC Waiver Journals — Journals that normally charge an APC but offer full or partial waivers to authors from low-income countries or those with demonstrated financial need.
Diamond Open Access: The Best of Both Worlds
Diamond open access is the gold standard for equitable publishing. The journal charges nothing to readers and nothing to authors. Work is freely available immediately upon publication under a Creative Commons licence.
Examples of institutions running diamond OA journals include CNRS (France), university presses, and subject-specific learned societies. The number of diamond OA journals has grown significantly since the Plan S framework encouraged funders to support them.
Plan S and Institutional Agreements
Plan S is an initiative by major international funders (including the Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, and NIH) requiring that funded research be published open access immediately. This has pushed publishers to offer more APC waiver routes and transformative agreements.
Your institution may have a "Read and Publish" agreement with a major publisher (Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis) that covers your APC entirely — check with your librarian before paying out of pocket.
How APC Waivers Work
Most major publishers offer APC waivers or discounts based on:
- Country classification — Authors from World Bank low or lower-middle income countries typically qualify for a full waiver automatically
- Financial hardship — Authors from any country can apply for a waiver if they have no funding source for APCs
- Institutional agreements — Your institution's library may have a deal covering APCs for a set number of articles per year
Important: Always apply for a waiver at submission time. Waiver decisions are made independently of peer review to avoid bias.
Finding Free-to-Publish Journals in Your Field
Use these resources to identify zero-APC open access journals:
- JournalsHub — Filter by open access and set APC maximum to £0 to find completely free options in your subject
- DOAJ — The Directory of Open Access Journals lists all vetted OA journals; use the APC filter to show only those with no charge
- OpenDOAR — For finding institutional repositories where you can self-archive preprints for free
- SHERPA/RoMEO — Check publisher policies on self-archiving and embargo periods
High Impact Free-to-Publish Journal Examples
| Journal | Field | Indexed In |
|---|---|---|
| PLOS ONE | Multidisciplinary | Scopus, WoS (note: PLOS ONE has a reduced APC, not zero) |
| eLife | Life Sciences/Medicine | Scopus, WoS (no APC since 2023) |
| F1000Research | Multidisciplinary | Scopus (has free publishing for some collections) |
| African Journals Online (AJOL) | Various | Many with no APC |
| SciELO journals | Various (Latin America) | Many Scopus/WoS indexed, zero APC |
APC policies change frequently. Always verify current fees on the journal's official website before submitting.
Subscription Journals: Still Relevant?
Traditional subscription journals (where readers pay through institutional subscriptions) allow authors to publish for free — but the article will typically be behind a paywall unless an OA option is exercised. Many researchers still prefer this route because:
- No upfront cost at time of submission
- Many are high-IF, prestigious journals (e.g. Nature, Science, Cell)
- Green open access (self-archiving a preprint on arXiv, bioRxiv, SSRN) is usually allowed after an embargo period
Frequently Asked Questions
Are free-to-publish journals lower quality?
No. Diamond open access journals run by universities, learned societies, and public funders are often highly rigorous. DOAJ vetting, Scopus indexing, and SJR quartile are reliable quality indicators regardless of whether a journal charges an APC.
What is the difference between gold and green open access?
Gold OA — Article published on the journal's website and freely available immediately; may or may not have an APC. Green OA — Author deposits a preprint or accepted manuscript in an open repository (like arXiv, institutional repository) after an embargo period. Green OA is usually free.
Conclusion
You don't need to pay thousands of dollars to publish open access. A growing number of high-quality, Scopus and WoS-indexed journals publish at zero cost to authors through diamond OA, institutional agreements, or APC waivers. Use JournalsHub's open access filter to discover free-to-publish options in your field, and always check your library's transformative agreements before assuming you'll need to pay.