How much does it cost to publish an article in a respectable journal?

(Open Access charges, publication fees, proofreading charges, payment for color figures, charges for translation)

Most scientific publications are free and do not charge a single dollar for publication. But there is always a “but”… There are journals and publishing houses that charge a fee for their services. Our editorial team has prepared for you a list of all possible fees in the publication process, if you decide to publish a scientific article on your own. Please note that this information does not apply to all journals.

Possible payments for the publication of scientific articles

1. Open Access charges

Some publications have hybrid access, and give the author the opportunity to choose for themselves how to publish the work: for free, but in closed access. Then if someone wants to read your work, only after the article is accepted for publication, the author or sponsoring organization can pay for open access. Prices range from $700 to several thousand dollars. But at the moment, Elsevier decided to help Ukrainian authors, and provide such a publication for free. Therefore, in difficult economic times, you can take advantage of this opportunity.

2. Publication fee

The journals of some editions are not funded, therefore they accept charges from authors. So for a certain amount, everyone will be able to see your article, while this fee ensures the normal functioning of the editorial office. There are few journals like these, and it is normal that commercial enterprises charge money for their services. In such case, the prices are also completely different. On average, it can be from $150 to $400.

3. Proofreading charges

Such cases are extremely rare, and often in journals of small publishing houses. So they double-check your work, and if they are aware about your native language is not English, they can slightly correct the written article so that the meaning will be more clear. Moreover, editors can include  the structuring of the work according to their requirements in charges, if you send the material in a standard form. It is worth understanding that people and their resources are involved in such work, that is why there is a set price in the region of $200. But you, as an author, for example, can structure your work by yourself and provide a certificate of the quality of the language of your work in order to save your finances.

4. Payment for color figures and graphics

This option is relevant if the journal publishes a printed version of the issue. The policy of such journals implies that the author must independently finance the printed version of figures, pictures and graphics if they are colored. The journal offers to pay $30-40 for each figure. But you can both refuse the printed version of the article and provide black and white versions of the figures, if possible, and will not violate the scientific integrity of the manuscript. This will, at least, reduce the cost of publication if there are a lot of figures in the work (it is more common in the works of the technical direction, where it is completely impossible to understand the work without diagrams and illustrations).

5. Charges for translation

It is also quite rare, and is found in the segment of multilingual journals. So, for example, some Spanish or German journals will be obliged to publish works in English and the language of the publishing house (since their target audience may be local). In such situations, there may be a translation of only title and abstract, less often than the translation of the entire article. But if you are not a native speaker, the editors will offer their services with a specialized translator. The price for such a service will depend on the text volume, the average price policy is $100-200. Again, you can opt out of this service and do the translation by yourself, or even refuse to publish.

6. Consulting services

To contact a consulting company for the publication process is the most correct and affordable decision for authors. The cost of services will already include translation, proofreading and publication fees, which significantly save the financial resources of the authors. In addition, you will definitely be sure that the article will come out on time and you will not have to bother yourself with additional difficulties, such as finding translators or even looking for many other journals, which will take a lot of time and finally delay your scientific paper from the word “relevant”. E-SCIENCE SPACE will do all the work in a short term and in the best quality, without violating any rules of publication ethics (which is also very important).

So the author has a choice: to engage in publication independently, spending a lot of physical and time resources, and pay from €1100 for publication or contact the specialists at E-SCIENCE SPACE, where for the full scope of work, the price of all types of work will be from €850. The price includes both translation and proofreading, selection of the journal and even the publication fee itself.

Yours, sincerely

E-SCIENCE SPACE