Hepatology APC and Open Access: Latest Public LWW Fee Schedule, Coverage, and Fit

The most useful verified source here is the journal's own official Editorial Manager instructions. Those instructions state:

• open access is optional

• the APC is charged on acceptance and should be paid within 30 days by the author, funding agency or institution

• payment must be completed for the article to publish OA

• the 2026 APC listed there is:

• $3,900 for CC BY-NC-ND

• $3,900 for CC BY

That matters because many generic APC aggregators still float older or wrong Hepatology numbers.

It also resolves the publisher question for this page: the verified OA workflow is being handled through the journal's Wolters Kluwer and LWW pathway, not through a Wiley-style hybrid charge flow.

The practical message is straightforward: Hepatology is not charging flagship-general-medicine money. It is charging a premium specialty-journal hybrid APC for a liver-owned title with real field authority.

The JCR page gives the current JIF. For longer directional context, the open Scopus-based impact-score series is the cleanest stable trend line available.

Directionally, the open citation signal is positive. Hepatology is up from 7.92 in 2023 to 9.55 in 2024 on the Scopus impact-score line. That fits the broader picture of a journal that still has strong liver-field ownership.

The real choices at Hepatology are:

Subscription route

• no APC

• still viable for authors without an immediate-OA mandate

Open-access route

• pay $3,900 for either CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY, using the 2026 schedule in the Instructions for Authors

• usually the right move when funder rules require immediate OA or a library agreement covers the bill

Coverage and waiver reality

• institutional or consortium support may reduce or remove the author bill

• exact eligibility is publisher-side and institution-specific

• the instructions say the APC can be paid by the author, a funding agency or an institution, so ask your library or funder about coverage

The useful planning rule is simple: treat the verified public schedule as the default, then check your library before assuming you will actually pay it.

In our pre-submission review work, the APC becomes a mistake only after the fit mistake has already happened.

The repeat pattern is:

• a manuscript with a real liver angle

• but not enough liver ownership in the evidence package

• plus a submission plan driven by the journal name rather than the journal audience

That is why Hepatology APC planning should come after one harder question: would a hepatologist immediately recognize the manuscript as liver-first? If the answer is shaky, a quick Hepatology submission readiness check is worth more than another hour comparing APC tables.

For Hepatology APC, the current verified public answer is stronger than the old approximation-heavy version:

• hybrid journal

• $0 subscription route

• 2026 schedule verified in the journal instructions:

• $3,900 for CC BY-NC-ND

• $3,900 for CC BY

That is a real planning number. The only reason to ignore it is if your institution covers the bill.