Figure B-1, below, provides a simple method of how a publication fee might be computed for either all submissions or solely for accepted articles, assuming that the fee covers all processing costs. Obviously, were the fee applied in combination with one of the other funding components described in this guide, the article charges would decrease accordingly.
Figure B-1: Sample Article Fee Calculation
| (a) Issues Per Volume | # a |
| (b) Articles Per Issue Accepted/Published | # b |
| (c) Articles Per Volume Accepted/Published | a X b = #c |
| (d) Articles Submitted | # d |
| (e) Acceptance Rate for Articles Submitted | b ÷ d = e % |
| (f) Total Net Editorial Processing Per Volume | $ f1 |
| (g) Proportion of Cost Defrayed by Article Fees | g %2 |
| (h) Fee Per Submission | f ÷ d = $h |
| (i) Fee Per Published Article | f ÷ c = $i |
Table Notes: 1In local currency. Including costs incurred for both rejected and accepted submissions. 2 Up to 100% (if no other funding components).
As the method in Figure B-1 suggests, if the journal charged a processing fee for every article submitted, and if that fee were intended to offset the entire editorial expense of the journal, then (h), the fee per submission, would need to be set at (f) total net expense divided by (d) the number of articles submitted. Were the journal to charge an article processing charge solely for accepted articles, (i) the fee per article, would need to be (f) divided by (c) the number of articles accepted and published. Depending on the scholarly or scientific discipline of the journal (and receptivity to article processing fees and the availability of research funds to support such fees), such fee levels may prove too steep to be feasible. However, these fees can be lowered by using them in conjunction with other funding mechanisms.
For information on transitioning a journal to an article processing fee model, see Appendix C.