Publishing open access does not require publication fees

In 2025, over 90% of the fees for peer-reviewed open access publications were covered through transformative (read & publish) agreements. Under these agreements, the university pays journal publishers, in addition to subscription fees, for the right of its researchers to publish open access articles in the publisher’s journals without separate publication fees. In 2025, transformative agreements cost the university a total of €1.8 million, and the invoices were paid from the library’s acquisition budget. Publication fees incurred outside these agreements, totalling €354,000, were paid by the departments.

These are substantial sums that we should not have to pay. Significant ethical concerns are associated with publication fees charged by commercial publishers and with the prevailing culture of scientific publishing. A journal’s reputation is often used as a shortcut to assess the quality of individual research articles (see the DORA declaration), and publicly funded research is routinely submitted to prestigious journals published by commercial publishers. Both subscription and publication fees are then paid without question. In other words, researchers end up paying both to publish their own work and to read articles they have written themselves.

"Scientific publishing has begun to look completely absurd. The world’s best business idea, getting the goods for free and then selling them back to the producer at a high price, is thriving. The scientific community seems to lack both the will and the solutions needed to find a way out of the cage it has built for itself.” (Ylönen 2024.)

We do not have to accept this, as there are more sustainable solutions available.

The diamond model: open access publishing without fees

The diamond open access model is a form of open access publishing in which publication is free for both the reader and the author. Unlike other open access models, diamond OA does not rely on subscription or article processing charges (APCs) for funding. Instead, it is typically supported by non-commercial sources, such as universities and scientific societies.

Commercial APC-based models primarily serve research organisations that are willing and able to pay between €100 and €10,000 (!) to publish a single article, and disciplines where English is the publication language and the target audience is international.

By choosing a diamond open access publication channel, researchers support sustainable openness. The aim of the diamond open access model is not to increase profits but to promote openness in science. Diamond OA journals enrich linguistic diversity, increase accessibility, and promote economic equity in scholarly publishing.

Free, open access scientific journals can easily be found using services such as Open Journal Finder, Cabell’s and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

The majority of articles published by University of Jyväskylä researchers using the diamond model are in the field of physics. The five diamond open access publication series in which our researchers have published the most articles over the last ten years are:

• Physics Letters B (205 articles),
• Journal of High Energy Physics (136 articles),
• European Physical Journal C (118 articles),
• EPJ Web of Conferences ( 76 articles), and
• Journal of Physics: Conference Series (73 articles).

The SCOAP³ consortium, which operates under CERN, covers the costs of publishing for the first three journals. The Open Science Centre is involved in funding the SCOAP³ project.

The top ten most popular diamond journals are dominated by titles in the natural sciences and technology. However, the Finnish journal Ennen ja nyt: Historian tietosanomat stands out: researchers from the University of Jyväskylä have published 13 articles in it over the past ten years. The Open Science Centre also supports diamond open access publishing in the humanities by paying membership fees to the non‑profit publisher Open Library of Humanities. The diamond model is supported in academic book publishing as well: Open Book Publishers (OBP) publishes peer-reviewed open access books without charging authors fees, and the Open Science Centre funds OBP’s activities through membership fees. The University’s own peer-reviewed JYU Studies series publishes open access monographs and edited volumes without charging authors fees.

Self‑archiving: a fee‑free route to open access

Self-archiving is the simplest form of open access publishing and offers authors the greatest freedom. At the University of Jyväskylä, the process is particularly straightforward: publish wherever you like, then submit your peer-reviewed manuscript to the Open Science Centre. An article published behind a paywall in a journal or book is immediately made available under a Creative Commons (CC) license in the University’s own publication repository. At the same time, authors retain copyright of their own publications and ensure long-term preservation.

Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä have the right to self-archive their peer-reviewed article manuscripts. Thanks to the prior licensing model (Rights Retention Strategy, RRS) articles become openly available in the JYX publication repository immediately upon publication. This model applies to all manuscripts submitted for review on or after March 1, 2026.

The prior licensing model gives researchers considerable flexibility in choosing a publication channel. It ensures that immediate open access to the publication can be achieved, which is required by many research funders. This model is useful when paying a publication fee to a hybrid journal is not an option, or when the publisher’s terms restrict the author’s right to self-archiving. Read more: The University of Jyväskylä’s prior licensing model (RRS).
 

If the publication is not open access on the publisher’s platform, remember to retain the accepted manuscript (AM) of the article and send it to jyx@jyu.fi for self-archiving.

Why do we pay when we don’t have to?

The two publication-fee-free options described above meet the open science requirements of research funders, support a more sustainable model of scientific publishing, and save a substantial amount of money. Given this, why do authors still choose fee-based routes? There are certainly many reasons, which the following section examines.

➤ Despite its simplicity and lack of publication fees, openness via self-archiving is unappealing because the article does not appear as open access on the publisher’s website, even though it is available for free in the publication repository.

Visibility on the publisher’s platform is often considered important, and this is likely the main reason authors choose to pay a publication fee.

However, the visibility and accessibility of a publication do not depend solely on the publisher’s website. Self-archiving is an excellent way to increase discoverability: articles deposited in a publication repository are easily found via search engines and direct readers to the permanently available version.

➤ The publishing culture within one's field influences choices, and free alternatives are not well known.

Following familiar publishing paths is only natural. The publishing landscape is diverse and changing, with new funding models emerging as alternatives to APC‑based publishing.

Nevertheless, researchers should take a moment to consider their options. Before submitting a manuscript, it is important to check if publication involves a fee and, if so, who will cover it.

The Open Journal Finder makes it easy to find completely free journals. Experts at the Open Science Centre can advise on publication channels and fees: Publishing services, Open Science Centre

➤ In one's field, there are no diamond open access journals or book publishers that are highly rated on the Publication Forum (JUFO).

The reputation, status, and quality of a journal or publisher may influence the choice of publication channel. Even if there were diamond-model options, they might not be widely known or highly rated in JUFO.

In such cases, you can publish in a non-open access series without paying an article processing charge and achieve open access free of charge through self-archiving.

➤ Paying the APC for a hybrid journal is an easy solution that the publisher suggests.

You are not obliged to accept the offer. Self-archiving is at least as easy and always free.

➤ Due to transformative agreements, the costs of open access publishing are invisible to authors.

At the University of Jyväskylä, most open access article fees are covered by our transformative agreements. For this reason, the total cost of open access publishing can be difficult to understand.

The cost of publishing often only becomes apparent when the agreement no longer covers the publication fee. This may occur, for example, when the agreement period ends during the publication process, when the publisher modifies the list of covered journals, or when the quota for free articles is reached. While individual authors make choices within the available options, current publishing structures can make it difficult to determine the total costs of open access publishing in a researcher’s day-to-day work.

➤ A self-archived article does not look as polished as a published PDF.

A self-archived manuscript often appears more modest than the publisher’s final, typeset version. Paid open access on the publisher’s platform is also perceived as more desirable.

However, in terms of research impact and publication accessibility, the most important factors are the content, ease of discovery, and free access of the publication, not its appearance. Open access ensures that research results are open, discoverable, and available long-term at no cost. According to responsible research evaluation, research value lies in its content, not the appearance of the publication, the prestige of the publisher, or the publication platform.