International Journal of Hydrogen Energy APC and Open Access: What Elsevier Charges and How to Get Coverage

IJHE is hybrid. You have two paths:

1. Subscription track (default): Your article goes behind Elsevier's ScienceDirect paywall. Readers access it through library subscriptions. You pay $0.
2. Open access track (optional): Your article is immediately and permanently free to read. You (or your funder/institution) pay the APC.

Hydrogen energy research has a strong international base, with particularly high submission volumes from China, South Korea, Iran, and Turkey. In many of these countries, institutional OA coverage through Elsevier agreements is limited, making the subscription track the practical default for a large fraction of IJHE's author base.

The energy research community also benefits from the fact that virtually all research universities maintain Elsevier ScienceDirect subscriptions. Your article on the subscription track will be accessible to nearly any university-based researcher worldwide. The access problem is more relevant for industry readers and the public.

IJHE is a core Elsevier title and is included in Elsevier's Read & Publish (R&P) agreements. Unlike Cell Press journals and Lancet titles, which are frequently excluded, IJHE gets full coverage.

If your institution participates, the process is automatic:

1. Your paper is accepted.
2. During the rights and access step, Elsevier identifies your institutional affiliation.
3. You're offered open access at no cost.
4. The APC is covered by the institutional agreement.

Major Elsevier R&P agreements active in 2026:

The US situation is, as always, institution-by-institution. Some major research universities have Elsevier agreements covering APCs. Many don't. Check your library's open access page.

Remember: these agreements cover the corresponding author's institution. If you're a co-author at a covered institution but not the corresponding author, the deal won't apply. This matters in collaborative hydrogen energy projects where teams span multiple institutions and countries.

Automatic waivers: Corresponding authors in Research4Life Group A countries (low-income nations) receive a full APC waiver. Group B countries get discounts, typically around 50%.

IAHE membership: IJHE is published in association with the International Association for Hydrogen Energy. IAHE membership doesn't directly reduce the APC, but attending IAHE conferences (like the World Hydrogen Energy Conference) can provide networking opportunities that lead to special issue invitations with waiver offers.

Case-by-case waivers: Elsevier accepts hardship waiver requests at acceptance. These are reviewed individually.

Special issue waivers: Elsevier occasionally offers waivers through guest editors for special issues. IJHE runs many special issues tied to conferences and emerging topics, so these opportunities come up regularly. Don't rely on them for budgeting, but they're worth pursuing if available.

For Plan S compliance, select CC BY specifically. Elsevier offers CC BY-NC-ND as well, but that won't satisfy cOAlition S funders.

DOE compliance is particularly relevant here because a significant amount of hydrogen energy research is funded by the US Department of Energy. DOE-funded articles can be deposited in OSTI's repository if gold OA isn't feasible.

Green OA is available with a 12-month embargo. You can deposit the accepted manuscript (not the published version) in an institutional repository after 12 months.

The hydrogen energy default. IJHE is where the hydrogen research community publishes. Founded in 1976, it predates the modern hydrogen economy hype cycle by decades. The journal covered hydrogen production, storage, and fuel cells when these were niche topics. This history gives it a depth of coverage and citation network that newer energy journals can't replicate.

Massive scope within hydrogen. The journal covers everything from fundamental catalysis and materials science to hydrogen infrastructure, safety, policy, and techno-economic analysis. A paper on photoelectrochemical water splitting and a paper on hydrogen refueling station economics can both appear in the same issue. This breadth is both a strength (large audience) and a weakness (unfocused).

Very high volume. Over 5,000 articles per year. This volume means reasonable acceptance rates and manageable turnaround times. Average time from submission to first decision is roughly 30-60 days. Total time to publication is 3-6 months.

Conference connections. IJHE has strong ties to major hydrogen energy conferences through its relationship with IAHE. Special issues tied to conferences like WHEC (World Hydrogen Energy Conference) and HYPOTHESIS are common. These special issues can provide faster publication paths and higher visibility within the conference community.

• No page charges beyond the optional APC
• No color figure fees
• Supplementary data hosted on ScienceDirect or Mendeley Data at no cost
• Reprints available for a fee
• VAT may apply for European authors, adding 15-25% to the APC
• Embargo for green OA is 12 months
• Graphical abstract recommended. Not required, but IJHE encourages graphical abstracts and they increase article visibility on ScienceDirect.
• Nomenclature section: IJHE expects a nomenclature/abbreviations section for papers with extensive technical symbols. This isn't a cost, but missing it can delay production.

If you're publishing in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, the APC decision follows a straightforward path:

1. Does your funder require immediate open access? If yes, choose gold OA. Check for Elsevier R&P coverage.
2. Is your institution covered by an Elsevier deal? If yes, open access is free. Take it.
3. Neither applies? Publish via the subscription track. It costs nothing and your paper gets the same indexing and peer review.

The deeper question is whether IJHE is the right journal for your work. With an IF of 7.2 and over 5,000 articles per year, it's less selective than Applied Energy (IF 10.1) or ACS Energy Letters (IF 19.3) but more focused than broad energy journals. Reviewers expect strong experimental or computational evidence, clear novelty, and practical relevance to the hydrogen energy field. Pure materials science without a hydrogen application angle tends to get redirected.

If you want to check your manuscript before submitting, run a free readiness scan to identify the issues that lead to desk rejection at high-volume energy journals. Even at journals with reasonable acceptance rates, a polished manuscript moves through review faster and avoids unnecessary revision cycles.

For more on journal impact factors and what they mean for your submission strategy, see our detailed guide. You might also want to explore our overview of how open access fees work across publishers.