I’ve published a lot this year. More than normal, since I had 5 months with extra time and the knowledge that I would not be able to devote time to old projects if I began a tenure-track position. It’s been wonderful to publish so many projects, especially ones that had been languishing. But publishing fees can be steep, and often the grant is spent out by the time you publish, leaving researchers struggling to pay to get their results out. The more prestigious the journal, typically; the higher the cost. This encourages many authors to turn to lower impact or less reputable journals, which in turn causes colleagues to be suspicious of the article and may hurt their ability to get more grant money or promotion. On top of the base article processing charge (APC), there may be additional fees to print color photos, supplemental information, or to make the article open-access (readable without a journal subscription).
I’ve published 10 articles in 2019, only a fraction of what I contributed to paying for (thank you, collaborators!!). All costs are presented as 2019 fees in USD. Some journals charge less if you are a member of their society, or have financial assistance, but I’ve included the prices we paid.
Animal: $2835 APC flat rate (includes open-access)
Basic and Applied Ecology: $2000 APC for non-members (includes open-access)
Buildings: $1006 APC (always open-access)
Geoderma: $3350 APC for open-access and $2052.30 for printing 6 figures in color.
Indoor Air: $4300 APC for open-access
Journal of Animal Science: $1300 APC ($100/page member price x 10 pages + $500 color figure charge)
Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology: $3760 APC (includes open-access)
PeerJ: $1095 APC (always open-access). PeerJ also gives discounts for acting as a reviewer, though not applied here.
PLoS Biology: $0 APC for essays because they are published in the magazine (always open access)
PLoS ONE: $1595 APC (always open-access)
Total cost: $21,241
Keep in mind, I’m an editor for two journals and a reviewer for over a dozen, none of which I get paid for. Initial reviews take 2-4 hours, and follow up reviews on revised manuscripts can take 1-2 hours per revision (usually no more than 2 rounds). Editorial takes 1-2 hours per manuscript total, depending on the ease of finding reviewers and the completeness of those reviews. I estimate I’ve provided $3,240 (net) in editorial and review services this year alone.