Article Processing Charges

What are Article Processing Charges?

Like other Open Access publishers, BMJ Open charges an Article Processing Charge (APC) once an article is accepted for publication. These charges cover the costs of turning a manuscript into a finished article, as well as the costs of hosting, distributing and promoting an article.

Article Processing Charges Explained

We are committed to making the costs of publishing as clear as possible and so the charges for each journal are clearly displayed on each journal’s homepage.

When a manuscript is submitted, it passes through the many different departments at BMJ Open to ensure the quality checks, peer review, production and promotion of articles is carried out in a timely manner and to a high standard:

• The Editorial Screening team, who perform initial technical and ethical checks
• The Editorial team, who help the journal’s Academic Editors manage the review process
• The Production team, who convert the manuscript to a professionally typeset article and well-structured XML
• The Proofing team, who coordinate the proofing process through BMJ Open’s Online Processing System (OPS)
• The Editorial Quality Assurance team, who perform a final check to ensure that the manuscript and its review process adhere to the journal’s guidelines and policies
• Our Marketing and Communication teams, who ensure your article receives the attention it deserves.
• The Technology team, who build and maintain our systems, and develop new systems

The work these teams do contribute to the requirement of an APC and is why the actual amount payable varies depending on the journal in which you wish to publish your article.

Waivers

We want to support all researchers to publish and so to help those who are unable to meet some or all of the cost associated with publishing open access we operate a transparent waiver policy.