In my view, i do not consider them very trustworthy. In most cases I encountered, they will take away your authorial rights, which is what a decent publisher should not do. I would not believe any e-mails inviting you to publish somewhere either.

Thank you for the reply,

ichal!

See the following discussions (probably the list is not complete):

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_article_processing_charge_and_why_the_publication_fee_is_charged_to_Author

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Article_Processing_Charge

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_difference_between_Pay_and_Publish_versus_Free_Publication_in_terms_of_publishing

https://www.researchgate.net/post/A_research_paper_costs_more_to_publish_than_a_Car

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Publishing_open_access_for_1000

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is-it-quite-the-same-a-predatory-journal-and-a-journal-that-charges-for-publishing

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What-is-a-open-access-journal-How-can-we-recognize-it-and-what-are-the-benefits-to-publish-a-journal-in-it

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Free_science_What_do_you_think_about_paying_to_read_a_scientific_article_even_though_you_know_that_its_authors_dont_get_paid_for_it

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Do_you_know_the_journals_which_paid_royalties_to_authors

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_ACTUAL_COST_OF_A_PUBLICATION

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_it_true_that_only_open_access_journals_charge_publication_fee_while_subscription_journals_do_not_charge

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_impact_of_high_article_processing_charges_on_research_publication_activities_in_low_and_middle_income_countries

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How-much-does-someone-pay-to-publish-in-this-journal

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_does_Nature_Open_Access_charge_so_much_to_publish

My question is what are they (publisher) using the fees for specifically?

Crystal Maraj: Publishers are privat enterprises, so they have to pay their staff, pay for their offices, for all hardware, for software, for advertisement, pay taxes, etc. Large publishers with high-ranking journals are mostly stock companies or similar and therefore they also have to pay dividends to stockholders. However, as for all companies it is nearly impossible to get details of their business model. See also the following discussion: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_ACTUAL_COST_OF_A_PUBLICATION

Thanks for sharing Wolfgang R. Dick

Thanks for the comments!

I am afraid to respond superficially.

Honestly, I would not like to be unkind on this topic, because I maybe not have information to give a correct opinion.

But, I agree with Wolfgang R. Dick

Best Regards

Thanks Carolina!

The journals where you pay a fee to be able to publish your paper is not a quality journal but it is professional journal.