Open Access publications: pros and cons

Citations, from which various ratings and scientific indicators are composed, are a valuable currency of the modern scientist. With even excellent publications, but not cited, a scientist is doomed to be at the tail end of any ranking. That in turn entails missing an opportunity to earn a high salary, academic position, to participate in competitions and grants.

Open Access publications make it possible to attract as many readers as possible to a paper: reading the material is free, in contrast to journals that distribute their archives by subscription (in order to read your paper, a reader must pay USD 20‒40 on average). In other words, if you intend to boost your science indicators and the rating of the scientist, then Open Access journals is your choice.

One should note, however, that a typical business model of Open Access journals implies that their authors pay the publishing costs, Article Processing Charges (APC). At present, there are the Open Access journals both free and charging an author a substantial amount for publication.

Today we submit for your consideration an overview of the cost of publishing in the Open Access journals at the world's leading publishers.

Elsevier – USD 150–5,900

Springer – USD 625–2,440

Wiley – USD 600–5,000 

Wolters Kluwer – USD 0–3,300