FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES AROUND ARTICLE PUBLICATION COSTS FOR OPEN ACCESS

How are authors of journal articles paying for Open Access (OA) fees or Article Processing Costs (APCs)?  What is the administrative burden for authors? And do their research organisations have an accurate overview of all these payments?

A better understanding of such authors’ perspectives on APC payments will support the development of an optimal communication and administrative strategy with the aim of encouraging authors’ usage of existing APC-funding mechanisms.  

For these purposes, Knowledge Exchange has carried out a study among authors at six research organisations. In total, 1069 authors participated in online surveys focused on their 2015 articles published in OA journals or in subscription journals that offer the option of publishing individual articles on OA for an additional fee, so-called hybrid journals.