The amount that publishers charge for gold open access varies considerably, from nothing to $5200. The charges can differ from what is stated on the publisher website as it depends on whether the institution has a membership or some other arrangement with a particular publisher which might provide a discount. In addition, some publishers offer individual members' discounts.
Generally the range is between $2000-$3000, though there are a few very expensive journals such as Cell ($5000), The EMBO Journal ($5200) and Nature Communications (£3300).
The average open access article processing charge the Open Access Service pays is £2147. This figure is an average across the entire University, although the bias is towards science and engineering journals. Cambridge has made available all the expenditure between 2009 and 2016 on Open Access as well as the RCUK/COAF Open Access expenditure between January 2017 and March 2018.
Please note that if you are funded by the UK Research Councils or Charities Open Access Fund (COAF) you do not need to apply for publishing costs in your grant application. A block grant is provided to the University and managed by the Open Access Team. If you are a Cambridge researcher publishing an article resulting from research funded by the Research Councils or COAF, then the Open Access Service can facilitate payment on your behalf. Simply submit your accepted manuscript.
Publishers' Open Access article processing charges
| Publisher | APC from | APC to | Fully OA or Hybrid? |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Chemical Society | $5,000* | $5,000 | Hybrid |
| BioMed Central | $1,290 | $2,580 | Open Access |
| Cambridge University Press | $600 | $4,500 | Hybrid |
| Elsevier | $100 | $5,000 | Hybrid |
| Hindawi | $550 | $2,250 | Open Access |
| MDPI | CHF 300 | CHF 2,000 | Open Access |
| Nature Publishing Group | $1,100 | $5,200 | Hybrid |
| PLOS | $1,600 | $3,000 | Open Access |
| SAGE | $400 | $3,000 | Hybrid |
| Springer | $3,000 | $3,000 | Hybrid |
| Taylor & Francis | $500 | $2,950 | Open Access |
| Wiley | $1,300 | $5,200 | Hybrid |
* Note that the University pays a heavily discounted price of $2000 because the University is a subscriber to ACS journals and many individuals are members of the Society.
Last updated October 2018