What is an article processing charge (APC)?

Modified on Thu, 6 Jun at 10:25 AM

An Article Processing Charge (APC) is a fee charged to facilitate the Open Access publication of an article. The APC can be paid by the author, their institution, or a funding body. It allows the article to be freely accessible to readers upon publication. APCs may vary from journal to journal, so it's advisable to check the specific journal's website for the current APC rate.


Please note, APCs do not cover other potential author fees, such as color and page charges, which may be levied by some journals. Authors should consult the individual journal's submissions page to identify if there are additional charges. 


For more information, please see How much does it cost to publish my article open access?


Contact Information


For further assistance, please contact our Open Access Customer Services team at openaccess@sagepub.com


For general author queries, please visit the Author FAQs in our Sage Journals Knowledge Base which contains answers to common questions.

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