Article Processing Charges (APCs) are fees charged by publishers to make articles in scholarly journals open access, specifically to cover the costs of publication and journal administration. These fees may be paid by an author’s institution or funding body or (more rarely) by an author themselves. APCs may also be included as part of transformative agreements. These fees range enormously in price and can can be in excess of AUD$10,000 per article – the highest APCs are usually for articles in “hybrid” open access journals. However, many scholarly journals, particularly those supported by universities, publish open access with no costs at all to researchers – these journals are known as “diamond” open access journals.
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