October 21, 2026 · 10 min read

Is It Free to Publish a Research Paper? APCs, Waivers and No-Fee Journals

Q: How can I get an APC waiver as a junior doctor?

Check country-based waivers through Research4Life, the publisher's own hardship or fee-assistance policy, and your institution's read-and-publish agreements or library funding.

Q: Can I publish a paper if I have no university affiliation or funding?

Yes. Unaffiliated clinicians publish in subscription journals at no cost, in diamond open-access journals at no cost, and can request waivers at APC-charging journals.

Q: Does posting on medRxiv count as publishing?

No. A preprint is publicly visible and citable but has not been peer reviewed and does not count as a journal publication.

Is it free to publish a research paper: Gen Z illustration of a cartoon doctor holding a research manuscript beside a giant question-mark price tag, APCs explained and zero-cost routes stickers, taimoorasghar.com badge

The short answer: yes, it can be free. Traditional subscription journals do not charge authors to publish, diamond open-access journals charge neither authors nor readers, and even where an article processing charge applies, country-based waivers, publisher hardship schemes, institutional agreements and funder funding can bring the cost to zero. The skill is knowing which route you are on before you submit.

Money is one of the least discussed barriers to publishing. Junior doctors and international medical graduates often assume publishing means paying, because open-access fees of a few thousand pounds get all the attention. But fees belong to one publishing model only, and for most clinical papers there is a legitimate route that costs the author nothing. This guide explains what journals charge, why, and exactly how to publish without paying.

What does it cost to publish a research paper?

There are two main publishing models, and only one of them usually involves a fee paid by the author.

Subscription journals charge readers, in practice through institutional subscriptions, and charge authors nothing. This is still how a large share of medical journals works: you submit, the journal peer reviews, and if accepted your paper is published behind the journal’s paywall at no cost to you. Springer Nature’s own hybrid journal pages put it plainly: authors can choose the subscription model and “no APC charges apply”. Some subscription journals add optional extras such as colour figure charges or page charges, but these are increasingly rare and are always disclosed in the author guidelines before submission.

Open-access journals make the paper free for everyone to read, and fund that through an article processing charge (APC), a fee the journal charges per published article to cover peer review management, production, online hosting and archiving, paid by the author, their institution or their funder. APCs are charged only after acceptance, never to submit. Current examples from primary publisher pages: PLOS ONE charges $2,477 for a standard research article, while Springer Nature’s per-journal APCs for full research articles span roughly £1,990 (npj Complexity) to £4,090 (Cell Death and Differentiation), with BMC Medicine at £2,990. Those figures explain the “publishing is expensive” impression, but an APC is a choice you make when you pick a gold open-access journal, not a mandatory tax on publishing.

Hybrid journals sit between the two: subscription journals that offer an optional open-access choice for individual articles, with an APC attached to that choice. Decline the open-access option and publish the standard way, and you pay nothing. Springer Nature notes that it does not even offer APC waivers for hybrid titles, precisely because authors who cannot pay can simply publish via the subscription route.

Is it free to publish a research paper in a subscription journal?

Yes. This is the simplest free route and the one many junior authors overlook. Thousands of respected medical journals, including most specialty society journals, publish papers at no cost to the author. The trade-off is that readers need a subscription or institutional access to read the article, which matters less than you might think: your paper still appears in PubMed, still counts on your CV and portfolio, and clinicians at institutions with subscriptions can read it.

How to use this route well: pick the journal for fit and credibility, not for the price tag. A paper in a respected subscription specialty journal carries more weight for a training portfolio than a paper in an obscure journal chosen only because it was free. Check the author guidelines for any mention of page or colour charges before submitting, and check that the journal is indexed where it matters (PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus) rather than assuming.

What is diamond open access, and which journals charge no fees at all?

Diamond open access is the model where nobody pays: peer-reviewed publishing with no fees for authors (or their institutions) and free access for readers, funded by universities, scholarly societies or public bodies rather than by APCs or subscriptions. Authors typically retain copyright, usually under a CC BY licence.

There are thousands of diamond journals, often run by small scholarly societies, and they are fully legitimate publishing venues. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) records each journal’s fee information and maintains a filter for journals without article processing charges, which can be narrowed by subject, language, peer-review type and country. A diamond journal that appears in DOAJ and is indexed in PubMed is a free, credible place to publish.

How do APC waivers work for authors who cannot pay?

If your chosen journal does charge an APC, the next question is whether you qualify for a waiver or discount. Publishers run several schemes, and they are more generous than most junior authors realise:

Country-based waivers. Authors based in low-income countries routinely receive full waivers and those in lower-middle-income countries receive discounts, through the Research4Life programme, whose country lists are based on World Bank income bands, the UN least-developed list and related development measures. Springer Nature grants a full APC waiver to corresponding authors in World Bank low-income economies and a 50% discount to those in lower-middle-income economies with GDP under US$200 billion, requested at submission. PLOS gives free publication in any PLOS journal to Group A authors without external funding, and Group B authors publish free in PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine and PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, or pay a reduced $940 fee in other PLOS journals.
Publisher hardship and fee-assistance schemes. Most major publishers consider individual waiver requests case by case: Elsevier automatically applies APC waivers or discounts to articles in fully open-access journals where all authors are based in a Research4Life-eligible country, and considers individual requests too; PLOS runs a Publication Fee Assistance programme for authors who can demonstrate financial need, applied for at submission; BMJ’s waiver policy offers a full APC waiver, a 100% discount, for authors in low and lower-middle-income countries. Waivers are decided independently of the editorial decision, so asking costs you nothing.
Geographical pricing pilots. Elsevier’s geographical pricing pilot waives the APC where all authors are based in World Bank low-income countries, and prices APCs at 20% to 90% of list price for lower-middle and upper-middle-income countries with low research intensity. These schemes change, so check the publisher’s current policy page rather than an old blog post.

The practical rule: never pay an APC from your own pocket without first checking every route above. For IMGs and junior doctors based in low and middle-income countries, country-based waivers alone settle most cases.

Can your institution or funder cover the fee instead?

Before ruling out an open-access journal with an APC, check whether someone else already pays it for you.

Read-and-publish (transformative) agreements. These are contracts between institutions, in the UK often negotiated by Jisc, and publishers that combine subscription costs and APCs into a single fee, so covered researchers publish open access with no individual payment. Wiley’s agreement with Jisc, for example, lets eligible authors publish open access without paying an article publication charge, with the cost covered under the agreement. If you are affiliated with a university, ask the library before you budget anything.

Funder funding. Researchers on major grants can usually charge APCs to the grant. In the UK, UKRI provides a block grant to eligible research organisations to cover open-access costs including APCs, and since 1 January 2025 Wellcome funds APCs only for research articles in fully open-access journals or platforms indexed in DOAJ, with UK Wellcome Centres able to use block grants and other grantees able to have grants supplemented after acceptance. This route matters less for unfunded junior doctors, but if your paper grew out of funded work, the funder’s open-access policy may already require and pay for open access.

Is posting a preprint the same as publishing for free?

No, and the distinction matters for your CV. Posting a manuscript on a preprint server such as medRxiv or bioRxiv is free, and it gets your work visible and citable quickly, which is genuinely useful. bioRxiv describes itself as a free archive for unpublished preprints whose articles are not peer reviewed before posting; medRxiv runs a two-stage screening process checking for health-research relevance and potential public harm, but its preprints are likewise not formally peer reviewed. BMJ Group co-launched medRxiv in 2019 with Yale University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to share preliminary findings. A preprint is a free shop window for the manuscript while you submit it to a real journal, not the publication itself.

How do you find a legitimate no-fee journal in your specialty?

A practical five-step check before you submit anywhere:

Start from the journal’s own fees page. Every legitimate journal states its charges or explicitly states there are none. If you cannot find a fees statement, treat that as a warning sign, not a bargain.
Check DOAJ for open-access titles. The Directory of Open Access Journals lists only journals that meet basic transparency standards, and shows whether each charges an APC.
Check indexing. Is the journal in PubMed, Scopus or Web of Science? Indexing is the quickest credibility check a busy clinician can run.
Run the Think. Check. Submit. checklist. The industry-backed Think. Check. Submit. initiative lists the checks that separate real journals from predatory ones: the peer-review type is clearly stated, it is clear what fees will be charged and when, and the publisher belongs to a recognised initiative such as COPE, DOAJ or OASPA.
Ask a senior colleague. One conversation with someone who has published in your specialty beats an hour of searching: they know which journals are respected, which are slow, and which quietly charge.

What is the predatory journal trap around fees?

Here is the one fee-related danger. Predatory journals, titles that charge a publication fee while providing little or no peer review, actively target junior and international authors with flattering email invitations. The Think. Check. Submit. checklist flags the warning signs: fees undisclosed, unclear, or revealed only after acceptance; unusually low or high fees without explanation; extra charges appearing mid-process; and no verifiable editorial board or indexing. Paying a predatory journal buys you a line on your CV that experienced assessors recognise and discount. A free publication in a real journal always beats a paid publication in a fake one.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free to publish a research paper?

It can be. Publishing in a traditional subscription journal costs the author nothing, diamond open-access journals charge no fees to anyone, and APCs at open-access journals can be waived, discounted or covered by an institution or funder. With the right journal choice, most clinical authors never pay.

What is an article processing charge (APC)?

An APC is the fee a gold open-access journal charges per published article to cover peer review management, production, hosting and archiving. It is charged only after acceptance and is paid by the author, their institution or their funder. Current examples: PLOS ONE charges $2,477 for a standard research article, and Springer Nature’s per-journal APCs for full research articles span roughly £1,990 to £4,090.

Which journals let you publish without paying any fees?

Most traditional subscription journals charge authors nothing, and diamond open-access journals charge neither authors nor readers. Use the Directory of Open Access Journals to find no-APC open-access titles in your field, and check indexing in PubMed or Scopus to confirm credibility.

How can I get an APC waiver as a junior doctor?

Check three routes in order: country-based waivers through Research4Life if you are based in an eligible country, the publisher’s own hardship or fee-assistance policy (Elsevier, PLOS and BMJ all publish one), and your institution’s read-and-publish agreements or library funding. Request waivers at or after acceptance, and never pay from your own pocket before checking.

Can I publish a paper if I have no university affiliation or funding?

Yes. Affiliation and funding are not publishing requirements. Unaffiliated clinicians publish in subscription journals at no cost, in diamond open-access journals at no cost, and can request waivers at APC-charging journals.

Does posting on medRxiv count as publishing?

No. A preprint is publicly visible and citable, but it has not been peer reviewed and does not count as a journal publication. Post the preprint for visibility, then submit the manuscript to a journal as normal.