Article Processing Charges

Why does BioPublisher have article processing charges (APCs)?
What kinds of fees are included in APCs?
How much does BioPublisher charge?
Does BioPublisher offer discounts on APCs?
How do BioPublisher's charges compare with other publishers?
Are taxes included in the APCs?
Which articles do the APCs apply to?
Why adopt a fixed charge rather than one based on page numbers?
Who is responsible for paying the APCs?
What kinds of funding agencies clearly allow the use of their grants to pay APCs?
How do I pay the APCs?
Will I have to pay if my institution is a BioPublisher member?
Do changes to APC rates, exchange rates and/or institutional membership status affect the amount payable for a submitted article, if it goes on to be published?
Do authors from low-income countries have to pay APCs?

■ Why does BioPublisher have article processing charges (APCs)?

The open access publishing doesn't exclude the cost in the process. BioPublisher covers the cost by collecting article processing charges (APCs) from authors and let the research results be freely accessed by readers and collected institutes. BioPublisher holds that the directed, global, and no-barrier open access of the full research article is to the optimal interests of scientific community.

■ What kinds of fees are included in APCs?

* The directed, global, and no-barrier open access of the full research article

* The development and maintenance of the electronic tools for peer review and publications

* The preparation of full article of all formats for online publishing

* The ensuring of full article in CrossRef (to realize electronic citation of other electronic publications)

■ How much does BioPublisher charge?

The standard article processing charges collected by BioPublisher is 1200 CAD per article.

■ Does BioPublisher offer discounts on APCs?

BioPublisher offers all kinds of discount on APCs. The following are the detailed information. These discounts can not be by used together or be accumulated.

Note: If the institute of the submitting author is a prepay member of BioPublisher, the cost of the article processing charge is covered by the membership. Please check in advance whether the institute you are in is the member of BioPublisher.

■ How do BioPublisher's charges compare with other publishers?

BioPublisher's article processing charges are extremely competitive compared with other publishers offering open access publication in the world.

■ Are taxes included in the APCs?

For authors from the Canada, their article processing charges levied by BioPublisher contain 12% of HST and GST tax fee (7%HST and 5%GST), and this tax fee will be listed solely upon invoice. For authors from countries other than Canada, their article processing charges are exclusive of any tax fees.

■ Which articles do the APCs apply to?

All accepted manuscripts of open access publications of BioPublisher are to be charged, but this charges are not applicable to manuscript contents that need to be paid subscription fees.

■ Why adopt a fixed charge rather than one based on page numbers?

The size of an article is a poor indicator of the actual amount of work involved in obtaining peer reviews and in preparing the article for publication. In fact, the peer review of research articles, electronic production and data maintenance are not affected by the lengths of articles.  Therefore, we hold that the fixed article processing charges is the fairest mode of charges at present.

■ Who is responsible for paying the APCs?

The author who submits the manuscript pays or arranges someone to pay (for example, through the institute the author is in)

■What kinds of funding agencies clearly allow the use of their grants to pay APCs?

More and more funding agencies are clearly allowed to use their grants to pay article processing charges.

■ How do I pay the APCs?

Once your manuscript accepted, Editorial Office will issue the invoice for Article processing Cost. The payment procedures will be instructed in the invoice. Once the APC payment is done your manuscript will be completed in the journal.

■ Will I have to pay if my institution is a BioPublisher member?

If the academic institute the author who submits manuscripts is in is a prepay member of BioPublisher, the cost of the article processing charges is covered by the membership. In the case of authors whose institutions are supporter members of BioPublisher, a discount is payable by the author Please check in advance whether your institute is the member of BioPublisher.

■ Do changes to APC rates, exchange rates and/or institutional membership status affect the amount payable for a submitted article, if it goes on to be published?

No, as one part of the process of submitting manuscripts, your APC have been established after you consent to pay APC, which means:

Between submission and publishing, if APC increases, you only need to pay the lower APC.

Between submission and publishing, you still only need to pay the negotiated amount at the time of your submission.

Between submission and publishing of the manuscripts, if the institute you are in is no longer a member of BioPublisher, you can still enjoy the member treatment.

On the contrary, after your submission, if the institute you are in becomes one member of BioPublisher, your APC can not be paid by member account.

■ Do authors from low-income countries have to pay APCs?

Authors from low-income countries and areas can apply the discount for APC upon submission, and if the authors are qualified to be waived they don't necessarily pay the APC. This policy shall be decided by the board of directors of BioPublisher.