Vocabulary


Core cost terms

  • Article Processing Charge (APC): Fee paid to publish an article open access.

  • Data Publishing Charge (DPC): Fee to publish and curate research datasets in a repository.

  • Publication Fee: Any fee charged by a journal for publishing, sometimes used synonymously with APC.

  • Submission Fee: Fee charged at the time of submission, regardless of acceptance.

  • Page Charge: Fee based on number of pages, common in some traditional journals.

  • Color Charge: Extra fee for printing color figures in print editions.

Open access models

  • Open Access (OA): Publications freely available online without paywalls.

  • Gold Open Access: Final article is freely available on the journal site, often with an APC.

  • Hybrid Open Access: Subscription journal where individual articles can be made OA for an APC.

  • Green Open Access (Self‑archiving): Authors deposit a version of their article in a repository, often without APCs.

  • Diamond/Platinum Open Access: OA with no APCs for authors, usually funded by institutions or consortia.

Rights and licenses

  • Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA): Contract transferring copyright from author to publisher.

  • License to Publish: Agreement allowing the publisher to disseminate the work while authors retain copyright.

  • Creative Commons License (CC): Standardized licenses specifying reuse rights (e.g., CC BY, CC BY‑NC).

  • CC BY: License allowing reuse, redistribution, and adaptation with attribution.

  • CC BY‑NC: CC license allowing non‑commercial reuse with attribution.

Funding and discounts

  • Waiver: Full cancellation of APC/DPC, often for authors with limited funding or from certain countries.

  • Discount: Partial reduction of APC/DPC based on membership, consortia, or country status.

  • Institutional Agreement/Transformative Agreement: Contract where a university or consortium covers reading and publishing (including APCs) for affiliated authors.

  • Membership Fee: Annual fee to a society or publisher that may secure APC discounts or waivers.

Publication workflow terms

  • Peer Review: Evaluation of manuscripts by experts before acceptance.

  • Accepted Manuscript (Author Accepted Manuscript, AAM): Version accepted after peer review but before typesetting.

  • Version of Record (VoR): Final, fully formatted, citable published version.

  • Embargo Period: Time during which self‑archiving is restricted or limited.

  • Repository: Online archive where articles or data are deposited (institutional or subject‑based).