IEEE Access APC and Open Access: Current IEEE Pricing, Member Discounts, and What You Get
IEEE Access APC is $2,160. IEEE members get 5% off and IEEE society members get 20% off. Current fully open-access pricing and discounts.
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IEEE Access publishing costs and open access options
APC is one cost. Funder mandates, institutional agreements, and access route timing all shape what you actually pay.
What shapes what you pay
- Gold OA at IEEE Access costs $1,995 USD. Check whether your institution has a read-and-publish agreement that waives this.
- Funder mandates (NIH, Wellcome, UKRI) may require immediate OA — verify compliance before choosing a subscription route.
- Accepted authors typically have 48-72 hours to choose their access route before proofs begin.
When OA is worth the cost
- When your funder or institution requires it — non-compliance can affect future funding.
- When your topic benefits from broad immediate access beyond institutional subscribers.
- IEEE Access's IF 3.6 means OA papers here have real citation upside.
Quick answer: IEEE Access currently charges an APC of $2,160 per article, plus applicable local taxes. The journal is fully gold open access, so there is no subscription route. The important current detail is that the old $1,850 number is out of date. IEEE now publicly lists $2,160, with a 5% discount for IEEE members and a 20% total discount for IEEE members who are also IEEE Society members. For the hub, see the IEEE Access journal page.
If the real question is whether the paper belongs in IEEE Access rather than a more selective Transactions journal, run an IEEE Access submission readiness check.
IEEE Access APC at a glance
Item | Current position |
|---|---|
Journal model | Fully gold open access |
Current APC | $2,160 |
IEEE member discount | 5% |
IEEE + IEEE Society member discount | 20% total |
Subscription route | No |
Page limits | No formal page limit |
Overlength charges | No |
Taxes | Applicable local taxes may apply |
Review-speed positioning | Rapid peer review |
2024 impact factor | 3.6 |
5-year impact factor | 3.9 |
JCI | 0.82 |
CiteScore | 9.0 |
SJR | 0.849 |
What IEEE currently says
IEEE Access's APC page is explicit:
- the journal is fully OA
- the APC is $2,160
- there are no page length limits or overlength charges
- IEEE members receive a 5% discount
- IEEE members who are also IEEE Society members receive a 20% total discount
That means the older frame of "IEEE Access costs $1,850 and there are no real discounts" is no longer current.
What authors actually pay
Author status | Approximate APC before tax |
|---|---|
Nonmember | $2,160 |
IEEE member | about $2,052 |
IEEE member + IEEE Society member | about $1,728 |
For the right author profile, the effective price lands much closer to the old numbers than the sticker price suggests.
That matters because IEEE Access competes in a crowded engineering OA lane where authors compare:
- speed
- brand recognition
- Xplore indexing
- and APC cost
Metrics context behind the APC
Metric | Current figure | Why it matters with the APC |
|---|---|---|
Impact Factor | 3.6 | Solid but not elite by engineering-journal standards |
5-year JIF | 3.9 | Slightly stronger longer-run profile than the 2-year window |
JCI | 0.82 | Citation performance is below world average once normalized |
CiteScore | 9.0 | Scopus gives the journal a somewhat stronger read than JCR alone |
SJR | 0.849 | Prestige-weighted influence is respectable, not top-tier |
Review speed | 3 to 6 weeks to first decision | Fast handling is one of the main reasons authors choose it |
IEEE Access is not charging like a prestige IEEE Transactions title. It is charging like a high-volume, fast, broad-scope engineering OA journal with strong discoverability inside the IEEE ecosystem.
Long-run impact factor trend
Year | Impact factor |
|---|---|
2017 | ~3.6 |
2018 | ~4.1 |
2019 | ~3.7 |
2020 | ~3.4 |
2021 | ~3.5 |
2022 | ~3.9 |
2023 | ~3.4 |
2024 | 3.6 |
The year-over-year move is modestly positive. IEEE Access is up from about 3.4 in 2023 to 3.6 in 2024, but the larger story is stability. The journal has stayed in the same citation band for years. That tells authors not to expect prestige upside from the APC alone. The value proposition is speed, openness, and IEEE branding.
Readiness check
Run the scan while the topic is in front of you.
See score, top issues, and journal-fit signals before you submit.
How IEEE Access compares with nearby options
Journal | APC structure | Metric profile | Practical fit |
|---|---|---|---|
IEEE Access | Fully OA, $2,160 before discounts | IF 3.6, CiteScore 9.0 | Broad engineering work that benefits from IEEE branding and speed |
Fully OA | Similar broad-volume logic, different disciplinary identity | Better when the work is not IEEE-native | |
Fully OA | Similar volume-oriented publication logic | Better for sensor-heavy work where MDPI is acceptable | |
Relevant IEEE Transactions journal | Usually hybrid or subscription-led | Often stronger field prestige | Better when subfield reputation matters more than speed |
Fully OA | Lower prestige in engineering | Better when broad soundness review matters more than IEEE identity |
The real comparison is usually not "IEEE Access versus Nature-family science journals." It is "IEEE Access versus a field-specific IEEE Transactions title" or "IEEE Access versus a broad OA engineering outlet like Sensors."
What we see in pre-submission review work with IEEE Access manuscripts
The APC is not the main risk at IEEE Access. Scope and technical framing are.
Applied extensions often look weaker than authors think. If the manuscript uses an established architecture or system in a new dataset or deployment context, IEEE Access still expects a clear technical delta.
Baseline quality is part of the price logic. Authors choose IEEE Access for fast review, but the journal still rejects papers with thin benchmarking or incomplete validation.
The IEEE identity has to be obvious. Papers framed as generic AI, healthcare, sustainability, or materials work without a clear engineering contribution get slower handling or outright rejection.
That is why the right order is:
- confirm the manuscript is genuinely IEEE-native
- confirm the contribution is more than a straightforward application
- then decide whether the APC is a good trade for speed and branding
Submit if / Think twice if
Submit and accept the APC if:
- the paper fits clearly inside electrical engineering, computing, communications, sensing, or adjacent IEEE scope
- rapid publication matters
- IEEE Xplore visibility matters to your audience
- the manuscript has complete baselines and validation at submission
Think twice if:
- the work is engineering-adjacent rather than engineering-owned
- a specific IEEE Transactions title would carry materially more career value
- the novelty claim is vague and relies mostly on a new dataset or application setting
- you are treating IEEE Access as a fallback without checking scope carefully
Practical verdict
IEEE Access is now a $2,160 APC decision, not an $1,850 one.
That is still a workable price for a fully OA IEEE-branded journal, especially once discounts are applied. But the real reason to choose IEEE Access is not that it is cheap. It is that it gives you:
- broad IEEE visibility
- rapid handling
- and a publication lane that is more inclusive than most Transactions titles
If those are not the actual reasons you want the journal, the APC is harder to justify.
Frequently asked questions
IEEE Access currently charges $2,160 per article plus applicable local taxes. The journal is fully open access, so every accepted paper goes through this APC route.
Yes. IEEE says corresponding authors who are IEEE members receive a 5% discount, and IEEE members who are also IEEE Society members receive a 20% total discount. Student and Graduate Student members are excluded from that discount.
No. IEEE Access is a fully gold open-access journal. There is no subscription route or hybrid option.
No. IEEE states that IEEE Access has no page length limits and no overlength article charges, though it recommends staying under 20 pages for readability.
The journal markets a rapid process, and the current practical expectation is roughly 3 to 6 weeks to first decision for papers that move smoothly through review.
Sources
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Where to go next
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Same journal, next question
- IEEE Access Submission Guide: Requirements, Formatting and What Editors Want
- Is IEEE Access a Good Journal? JIF, Scope & Fit Guide
- IEEE Access Impact Factor 2026: 3.6, Q2, Rank 128/366
- IEEE Access Acceptance Rate 2026: An Honest Look
- IEEE Access Submission Process: What Happens From Upload to First Decision
- IEEE Access vs Scientific Reports
Supporting reads
Want the full picture on IEEE Access?
These pages attract evaluation intent more than upload-ready intent.