Open Access Publishing Fees Skyrocket, Invites Concerns on Equitable Knowledge Dissemination
Open access (OA) publishing has gained momentum over the past few decades. It was reported that as of 2021, the market for open access publishing is worth around $1.6 billion, accounting for around 15% of the academic article publishing market. A report analyzing the evolution and prominence of OA publishing over the past few decades revealed that over 56.86% articles published during 2020 have some form of open access, highlighting the increase in the share of OA articles by 58% over the last decade and by 78% since the start of the 21st century.
In a study conducted by Enago Academy on OA publishing, article processing charges (APCs), and funding opportunities revealed that 80% researchers perceived APCs as expensive and 57% refrained publishing in OA journals due to unaffordable APCs. This highlights how APCs influence researchers’ decision on publishing their research open access.
Furthermore, a recent data analysis on APCs, spanning over 20,000 journal titles, has uncovered a significant increase in APC in 2024 compared to the previous year. Their alarming statistics revealed an increase in prices of around 9.5% on average for fully open access journal and 4.3% for hybrid open access journals was reported. It was found that the maximum APC for a fully OA journal rose to $8,900 and for hybrid OA rose from $600 as of 2023 to $12,290. The increase in price varied across disciplines, with arts/humanities and social sciences seeing particularly large increases for fully OA journals. The analysis shows publishers are shifting more journals into higher price bands over time, especially for fully OA titles, driving up the average APCs that authors actually pay. These findings not only demonstrate the potential threat of escalating OA publishing costs on the adoption of OA publishing but also highlights a potential threat in the adoption of OA publishing, impeding its progress.
As open access continues evolving, accurately tracking the underlying costs is crucial for universities, authors, publishers and funders to address the changing landscape. The rising costs not only threatens OA publishing of resources but also introduces further financial burden on low and middle income countries’ researchers. A collective action by the academic community to address this pressing issue can direct a path towards open knowledge dissemination and financial well-being of researchers worldwide.
