European Heart Journal APC and Open Access: OUP Pricing, ESC Discounts, and Your Options

EHJ operates as a hybrid journal:

1. Subscription track (default, $0): Your paper is published behind the OUP paywall. Cardiologists and institutions access it through their ESC membership or library subscription.
2. Gold OA track (~$4,500-$5,000): Your paper is immediately free for everyone. You select a Creative Commons license.

Most EHJ papers are published via subscription. The journal's readership is enormous (EHJ is the #1 cardiology journal by impact factor, IF ~39 in 2024), and virtually every cardiology department has access. The practical benefit of paying for OA at EHJ is marginal for most researchers in cardiology, unless your funder requires it.

The European Society of Cardiology provides a tangible benefit for its members:

If you're an active ESC member and choose OA, the 20% discount is applied automatically when your institutional email and ESC membership are verified during the production process. On a ~$5,000 APC, that's approximately $1,000 in savings.

Most cardiologists who publish regularly in ESC journals are already ESC members. If you're not, the membership cost (~€100-200/year depending on level) is worth it if you plan to publish OA in EHJ or any other ESC journal.

Oxford University Press has negotiated Read & Publish (or "transformative") agreements with hundreds of institutions:

If your institution has an OUP Read & Publish deal, the EHJ APC is likely covered. OUP's agreement portal lets you check eligibility by entering your institutional email.

Important: OUP agreements typically cover hybrid journals like EHJ. If you're publishing in EHJ Open (the fully OA companion journal), check whether it's included in the same agreement.

OUP's waiver policy for EHJ:

Automatic waivers: Corresponding authors in eligible low-income countries (aligned with World Bank classifications) receive automatic APC waivers when submitting to OUP fully open access journals. For hybrid journals like EHJ, the automatic waiver applies to the OA option.

LMIC discounts: Authors in lower-middle-income countries receive partial discounts.

Case-by-case waivers: Authors without institutional or funder support can request waivers. OUP considers these on merit, though approval for well-funded researchers at Western institutions is unlikely.

The European Society of Cardiology publishes a growing family of journals through OUP:

EHJ Open ($2,500) is the budget alternative if you want to publish in the ESC ecosystem at a lower price point. The IF is much lower (~3 vs ~39), but it's fully OA and indexed.

For European cardiologists funded by the ERC or national funders under Plan S, the OA option with CC BY satisfies the mandate. Many European institutions have OUP agreements that cover the cost.

For US cardiologists with NIH/NHLBI funding, the free subscription track plus PMC deposit satisfies NIH policy at no cost.

• No page charges or color figure fees. The APC (if you choose OA) is the only publication cost.
• ESC Guidelines supplementary charges: If your paper involves guideline-adjacent content, supplementary materials hosting is free but may require specific formatting.
• Currency fluctuation: OUP prices some APCs in GBP or EUR. The USD equivalent depends on exchange rates at the time of payment.
• Production timeline: EHJ has a fast publication pipeline for accepted papers (typically 2-4 weeks from acceptance to online publication), but review times can be 2-4 months. Budget your APC timing against your grant expiration.

For most cardiologists, the subscription track is the right choice. EHJ's readership is so large that the access barrier is minimal, and the 12-month embargo satisfies NIH/NHLBI policy.

Choose gold OA if:

1. Your funder mandates immediate open access (Plan S, ERC, Wellcome, BHF)
2. Your institution has an OUP Read & Publish deal that covers the APC
3. You want maximum visibility for a landmark trial or guideline-changing study

Before worrying about the APC, make sure your paper can clear EHJ's editorial bar. The journal desk-rejects roughly 80% of submissions, and editors prioritize studies with direct clinical impact on cardiovascular practice. Run a free readiness scan to check your manuscript's fit before submitting.