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Published on July 3, 2024– Updated on March 18, 2025

Publication costs - APC

As part of the negociations conducted by the Couperin consortium, the Service Commun de la Documentation has taken out subscription licences with a number of publishers that offer advantages for open access publishing, through a reduction or complete deduction of APC (Articles Processing Charges).


Publication costs - APC

 
Publisher Date of agreement Type of agreement Automatic cost reduction managment Documents to consult
EDP Sciences 2022-2026 Publish & read :
Subscription + open access publication without APC in CC-BY		 Yes : automatic management based on the sender's registered address List of journals included in the agreement with EDP
To find out more, consult this page                          
Elsevier (2024-2027) Publish & read :
Subscription + open access publication without APC - in CC-BY for the Elsevier Complete freedom Collection and BMF journals		 OYes : Couperin centrally validates author's affiliation to the Elsevier national licence Titles eligible for immediate free access, without embargo and at no extra cost.
> Here

Typology Articles eligible for immediate free access, without embargo and at no extra cost.
> Here

APC price Non-eligible journals
> Here

To find out more consult this page
Springer revues 2024-2026 Global agreement reading + publication Yes: centralised workflow with administrative validation required (Couperin or institution) A global Read+Publish agreement has been negotiated by Couperin for the journals SPRINGER, Palgrave Macmillan and Adis for the period 2024-2026 with a possible renewal in 2027. Consortial quota negotiated for all subscribing institutions, allowing open access publication in hybrid journals. Full OA journals are excluded from the agreement. The Publication service begins on 1 July 2024. On 1 January 2025, publication rights will be updated for the year 2025.

The list of securities eligible for publication will change in 2025, with the 15 securities converted to Full OA remaining eligible under the conditions negotiated. > Here

APC public price > Here

Authors of correspondence exercise their immediate open access publication rights via the SPRINGER workflow: once their article has been accepted, they indicate their home institution and choose from two licence options (CC-BY and CC-BY-NC), the CC-BY licence is recommended, in particular by ANR : Springer Nature Transformative Agreements ; Find the Article Processing Charges (APC) for a specific journal
Wiley 2022-2024 Publish & read :
Subscription + open access publication without APC in CC-BY, CC-BY-NC or CC-BY-NC-ND depending on the journal		 Yes : via a form in the submission interface, with identification of the affiliation in a standardised list of establishments List of journals included in the agreement with Wiley.
To find out more, consult this page-


 

What is an APC and what is it used for ?

APCs (Article Processing Charges) are publication fees. They allow the author of a scientific article to publish it in open access, so that the entire text is freely accessible to all readers.
PCAs are paid for by the author or, more often, by the institution to which the author belongs. The economic model is therefore one of "author pays"
Two types of scientific journals may offer payment of APCs :

  • Hybrid journal, which present both subscription and open access articles. In this type of journals, APC are optional, with the author always having the possibility of opting for traditional publication by paid subscription.
  • Journals that are fully open access : APCs are often complusory. Certain additional charges (for colour figures or extra pages) do not fall within the scope of APCs. These only concern the possibility for authors to publish in open access.

Open access publishing

It is possible to avoid paying APCs by opting for a self-archiving platform, whatever the version of the article: preprint (before peer review), postprint (after peer review), or publisher's version (depending on the publisher's policy). This practice can increase the visibility of an article while protecting copyright. This is the ‘green way’ of open access.

It is also possible to choose a journal whose editorial costs are covered by public institutional funding. This is the ‘diamond route’ of open access.

Finally, it is possible to opt for a journal that requires payment of APC, in order to publish a scientific article in open access and in full text. This is the ‘golden path’ of open access.

Do I have to pay the APC to publish in open access ?

Not necessary. It is perfectly possible to publish in open access without having to pay publication fees. To do this, we invite you to look for journals that do not require an APC :

 

The golden way or gold open access

It applies to journals and books that are open access by default, as soon as they are published. To find out more, click here