Circulation APC and Open Access: Current AHA Hybrid Pricing, Coverage, and When to Pay

The official AHA author guidance confirms the part authors most need for planning:

• Circulation is not fully open access

• authors can still use the subscription route

• open access is chosen when the corresponding author submits the revised manuscript and selects the publication license form

The AHA's Open Access Information page lists the price: $5,400 per article for either open access license. The page is marked as updated in January 2026, so confirm the figure on the live page before you plan a budget.

That is good enough to make the real decision:

1. whether your institution has AHA or publisher-side coverage

1. whether your funder requires immediate OA

1. whether the paper is strong enough that paying for immediate access is rational

The APC question at Circulation is not about whether the journal is visible enough. It is about whether immediate unrestricted access adds enough value beyond an already dominant subscription venue.

The current direction is slightly positive. Circulation is up from 37.8 in 2023 to 38.6 in 2024. That matters because it shows the flagship cardiology position held after the pandemic-era spike rather than collapsing back toward the pre-2020 band.

Circulation is still one of the clearer cases where not paying is often defensible.

Subscription route

• no APC

• standard publication route

• still reaches the core cardiology readership because Circulation has very deep institutional penetration

Open-access route

• APC applies when you choose an open access license at revision

• usually justified by funder rules, institutional coverage, or a strong need for unrestricted immediate access

Agreement and waiver reality

• some authors will have institutional support through publisher-side arrangements

• authors from low- and middle-income economies may qualify for a full or partial equitable waiver based on Research4Life eligibility, and AHA members get a 20% discount

• exact outcome is not universal, so authors should check the library first rather than assume anything from a Springer Nature or Elsevier deal

In our pre-submission review work, the APC is rarely the thing that causes regret.

The expensive mistake is paying attention to open-access mechanics before checking whether the manuscript is really broad enough for Circulation.

The repeat failure pattern is:

• strong cardiology science

• but too subspecialty-facing

• with a cover letter that leans on journal prestige instead of audience fit

If that sounds familiar, the better question is not "can we afford Circulation OA?" It is "should this be in Circulation at all?" A fast Circulation submission readiness check is usually more useful than another round of APC planning.

The answer for Circulation APC is:

• hybrid journal

• Copyright Transfer Agreement route has no author cost

• open access APC of $5,400 before any member discount, institutional coverage, or waiver

• actual invoice depends on the 20% member discount, Read & Publish coverage, and waiver eligibility

That is enough to plan rationally. If the paper is truly Circulation-level and the funding path is solved, paying for OA can make sense. If either of those conditions is weak, the APC discussion is early.