There is a lot of talk now about supporting reviewers, so I wonder if there are any open access journals or publishers offering reviewers a 100% (!) waiver of the APC (article processing charges a.k.a. publication fees), perhaps not for one but for several reviews done for them?
This question does not apply to the open access journals with zero APC, i.e., no APC at all.
The only publisher I found so far who does something of the sort is MDPI ( https://www.mdpi.com/about/apc_faq ) but the conditions are very unclear. Are there any other publishers/journals offering reviewers the APC waivers, perhaps with more clear-cut conditions?
The only publisher I found so far who does something of the sort is MDPI ( https://www.mdpi.com/about/apc_faq ) but the conditions are very unclear. Are there any other publishers/journals offering reviewers the APC waivers, perhaps with more clear-cut conditions?
I doubt! I have read about some that offer a free fourth publication if you paid for the first three. However, I feel very uncomfortable with these kinds of journals. Just be careful, please. All that glitters is not gold.
@Artur, MDPI provide the vouchers to the reviewers, which they can use for the payment of APC. But remember, the vouchers are only valid for a certain time period.
Dear Artur Sergyeyev , thanks for sharing the question. I am not aware of any open access journals or publishers offering reviewers a 100% waiver of the APC.
@Ljubomir, please visit the MDPI homepage (link already shared in comment 1).
They offer vouchers to the reviewers in appreciation of their work. Reviewers can use those vouchers for covering the APC in any MDPI Journal.
Dear Izhar Hyder Qazi , reviewers deserve more, not just vouchers and applauses.
Elsevier launched “My Elsevier reviews profile” on Elsevier’s Reviewer Recognition Platform (RRP) in April 2014 with the aim of making peer review a measurable research output. On these private profiles researchers can see the list of Elsevier journals for which they have reviewed during the past five years and collect:
- Review certificates associated to their status based on the number of submitted reviews per journal
- A yearly overview of their peer review performance
- Their signature, listing journals for which they have acted as referees
- Vouchers for Elsevier books and article publication services...
https://www.elsevier.com/connect/reviewers-update/a-round-of-applause-for-reviewers
Dear Prof. Ljubomir, I do agree with you regarding this aspect of discussion.
As for my previous comment, I just restricted my answer to the scope (APC waiver) of the question.
I am not aware of any of the open journals that offer reviewers a 100% waiver of the APC.
I have not heard of any Open Access Journal offering reviewers 100% waiver APC.
I write a lot of reviews for several different journals published by MDPI, as well as other publishers.
The discount APC vouchers for MDPI are typically CHF 100 for each completed review, which means a lot of reviews are required to reach the threshold for some of their more expensive journals at CHF 1,800.
Why would any Open Access journal provide a full waiver of APCs when academics seem to be willing to provide their reviewing services for free?
Many referee reports would have to be written to come close to a full waiver.
A related thread to this interesting Question is:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Should_journals_charge_Submission_Fees_Publication_Fees_or_Article_Processing_Charges_APCs
To Linas Balciauskas :
For any MDPI journal, I typically need to respond to 3-5 separate reviews, with a wide range of comments and suggestions, as well as editorial recommendations.
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