The mythical OA article processing charge | Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir les savoirs communs

"The purpose of this post is to provide some important context for understanding OA publication charges. A key point that I would like to highlight is that the OA APC, in the sense of a single number charged for each article published, is a myth. It is important to understand this because  OA journals are obviously conducting some real-world experiments that have the potential for beneficial results for high-quality, sustainable open access publishing, and providing discounts that may be needed by some authors and OA APC payers. Pricing is often tailored to reflect the work involved in publishing an article. A well-written article that is submitted in good shape with little need for language editing or copyediting with camera-ready graphics is less work to publish – this should, and sometimes does, cost less. There are a variety of discounts reflecting contributions to the journal community; discounts for editors, reviewers, society or association members, loyalty discounts for repeat authors. Details about variations on APC pricing can be found in these posts by Guinsly Mondésir (Version en français / English version) ..."