Information
Article Processing Charge (APC) Information
- General Overview of APC
- What the APC Covers
- Discounts and Waivers
- Journal Specific APCs
- Local Sales Taxes
- Language and Figures
- Funding of APCs and BPCs
- Accepted Currencies
- Accepted Methods of Payment
- MDPI Invoicing, Payment and Refund FAQs
General Overview of APC
MDPI publishes all its journals Open Access, allowing unrestricted use and reuse of articles, provided appropriate credit is given to the authors. All articles are distributed under a Creative Commons (CC BY) license.
To support this model, MDPI funds the costs associated with Open Access through an Article Processing Charge (APC), which covers peer review administration and management, professional production of articles in PDF and other formats, dissemination across multiple venues, and other publishing services.
What the APC Covers
Publishing Operations and Infrastructure
Development and maintenance of MDPI's electronic submission and peer review systems and the infrastructure required to support the publication process.
Editorial and Peer Review Support
Operational support throughout the editorial process, including the Technical and Ethics pre-check, preparation of proposed reviewer lists, reviewer invitations following Academic Editor validation, collection of review reports, communication with authors and reviewers, and coordination of revisions. Editorial decisions remain the responsibility of the assigned Academic Editor.
Production and Publication
Copy-editing, typesetting, XML and PDF conversion, language editing, proofreading, and publication. The APC includes minor English-language editing by professional English-language editors; extensive language editing is not included.
Indexing and Digital Preservation
Dedicated support for the indexing and discoverability of published content across relevant academic databases, as well as digital preservation through services including the Swiss National Library and CLOCKSS.
Research Integrity and Publication Quality
APCs support the infrastructure and operational resources used to maintain the quality and integrity of the publication process, including plagiarism detection, image and data screening, and other research-integrity tools and services. Dedicated staff support these processes and provide operational assistance to Academic Editors and reviewers. Manuscripts that are ultimately not accepted may nevertheless require substantial editorial and research-integrity assessment before a decision is reached.
APCs are charged only for articles accepted for publication. Payment of an APC does not influence editorial assessment or decision-making, and information concerning APC waivers or discounts is not accessible to Academic Editors involved in editorial decision-making.
Editorial Compensation
- MDPI provides travel grants or stipends to Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) in recognition of their editorial responsibilities. This benefit is independent of the editorial decision-making process and is managed in accordance with the journal’s conflict-of-interest and editorial independence policies.
- Editorial Board Members may receive up to one full Article Processing Charge (APC) waiver per year in recognition of their editorial service. Such waivers are granted independently of editorial decision-making and are managed in accordance with the journal’s conflict-of-interest and editorial independence policies.
- MDPI shares revenue with societies whose journals it publishes, supporting their continued activities.
Marketing and Communication
- MDPI allocates part of its income to the promotion of journals and articles through sponsorships of conferences, scholarly society events, and other promotional activities, as well as a series of awards to support researchers.
- Journal management and development: In-house Managing Editors track key performance indicators of each journal, and monitor competing journals and trends in the field. They also provide reports and hold discussions with the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board.
General
- Management & administration includes costs related to salaries of non-editorial staff and general operational infrastructure, including HR, finance, compliance, IT systems, and office facilities. They include all the fees paid by MDPI for membership in publishing organizations, such as the STM Association, OASPA, and the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as well as additional publishing services such as Publons. Most membership fees are based on the level of income or size of the publisher.
- MDPI supports the activities of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, including coordinating the World Sustainability Forum and World Sustainability Awards.
- MDPI invests in open science infrastructure, including platforms such as Scilit, Preprints and Sciprofiles, which support discoverability, collaboration, and transparency in research See also: Products & Solutions.
Discounts and Waivers
MDPI is committed to making open access publishing accessible to all authors. APC discounts and waivers are granted across MDPI journals. Support levels vary by journal, discipline, and eligibility pathway, and may range from partial discounts to full waivers.
Our discount and waiver policies are designed based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) best practice guidance and are informed by the following principles:
- Transparent eligibility: Discounts and waivers may be available through institutional agreements, reviewer vouchers, and selected invitations issued to individual authors.
- Editorial independence: APC discounts or waivers do not influence peer review or editorial decisions. Manuscripts are assessed on academic merit.
- Separation of editorial and financial processes: APC billing, discount eligibility, waiver requests, and payment administration are handled separately from peer review and editorial decision-making.
The following outlines the different types of APC discounts and waivers available to eligible authors.
- Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP)
Authors affiliated with institutions participating in MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program may be eligible for a discount on the APCs. Where a Central or Flat Fee agreement applies, the APC may be fully or partially covered by the author’s institution in accordance with the applicable agreement.
- Eligibility: The discount level is determined by the agreement between MDPI and the participating institution.
- For details on participating institutions and discount levels, please refer to the IOAP page.
- Reviewer vouchers
MDPI provides reviewer vouchers to selected reviewers in recognition of their contribution.
- Reviewer vouchers are linked to the reviewer’s email address and may be applied to the APC of a future submission before acceptance.
- Reviewer vouchers cannot be applied after a manuscript has been accepted and are non-transferable (they cannot be transferred to another person or used under a different email address).
- Reviewer vouchers may be combined with other reviewer vouchers, as well as with IOAP or affiliated society discounts.
- MDPI reserves the right to revoke unused reviewer vouchers in cases of misuse or misconduct.
Eligibility for reviewer vouchers is based on defined criteria, such as the number and quality of reviews completed for MDPI.
Further details are available in the reviewer guidelines.
- Discounts and waivers for invited submissions
Our Editorial Offices may issue personal invitations to submit to a journal or Special Issue and offer discounts and waivers for those invited submissions.
Journal Specific APCs
* For papers of type "Interesting Images", an APC of CHF 550 applies for publication in this journal.
Local Sales Taxes
Authors located in Switzerland or Liechtenstein will have Swiss Value-Added Tax (VAT) added to their invoices. Residents of Japan will have the Japanese Consumption Tax (JCT) added to their invoices at the rate set by the Japanese government. Authors located in Taiwan will have the 5% Taiwan Value-Added Tax (VAT) added to their invoices when the invoice is issued to an individual (B2C). For invoices issued to Taiwan institutions or companies (B2B), no VAT applies, provided a valid Unified Business Number (UBN) is supplied and the payer is the same legal entity as stated on the invoice.
Language and Figures
The article processing charge (APC) includes only minor English editing for accepted papers. Authors are responsible for ensuring good English and clear figures before publication. Unclear language or figures may risk delays and even rejection.
If the language or figures require improvement for clarity, MDPI Author Services offers professional English and Figure Editing services. For expert language and figure editing that elevates the clarity and impact of your work, visit MDPI Author Services.
Funding of APCs and BPCs
Many funding agencies and institutions explicitly allow the use of research grants for the payment of APCs and BPCs for publishing open access articles and books. For more information on APC and BPC funding, please see the following page.
MDPI also offers discount vouchers to selected reviewers. Please note that reviewer vouchers can only be combined with IOAP and affiliated society discounts.
Authors affiliated with participating universities receive a discount on the APC for any paper published in an MDPI journal. Note that only one discount through an IOAP scheme is permitted per paper and that the discount can be combined with other available discounts (e.g., reviewer vouchers).
Accepted Currencies
We accept payments in Swiss francs (CHF), euros (EUR), US dollars (USD), British pounds sterling (GBP), Japanese yen (JPY), or Canadian dollars (CAD). Upon acceptance, the corresponding/submitting author will receive an e-mail with a link through which the currency of the invoice can be changed.
Accepted Methods of Payment
MDPI currently supports the following payment methods:
For more detailed information on how to pay an invoice, please see our Payment Instructions.
APCs are payable within 5 to 10 business days.
Invoices are e-mailed shortly after acceptance to the payment contact provided by the authors. Only official invoices issued by MDPI (@mdpi.com) are valid. We do not authorize any third party to collect APCs. MDPI is the sole service provider and cannot be held liable for actions by third parties.
