Journal of Biological Chemistry APC and Open Access: A Historic Journal's Expensive Transition

JBC's transition to gold open access on January 1, 2021 was one of the most significant events in biochemistry publishing. Founded in 1905, JBC was the first journal of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and one of the oldest continuously published scientific journals in the United States.

For over a century, JBC was a subscription journal. Libraries paid for access. Authors published for free. The 2021 flip reversed this model completely: now authors pay and everyone reads for free.

The transition happened for several reasons:

• ASBMB's leadership believed open access was the future and wanted to lead rather than follow
• Funder mandates (NIH, Plan S) were making subscription-only publishing increasingly untenable
• JBC's subscription revenue had been declining as library budgets tightened
• The journal wanted to reach a wider global audience

The flip was not without controversy. Some longtime JBC authors objected to paying for a journal that had been free to authors for over a century. Others worried that APCs would create a barrier for unfunded researchers. ASBMB responded by establishing a waiver program and keeping the APC lower than many competitors.

ASBMB membership is the primary way to reduce your JBC costs. The society offers tiered membership:

The math is straightforward. If you're a graduate student ($50 membership) publishing one JBC paper, you save $500 on the APC and spend $50 on membership, netting $450 in savings. For regular members, the $175 dues still save $325 per publication. Anyone planning to publish in JBC should join ASBMB first.

ASBMB membership also gets you reduced rates at the society's other journals, including the Journal of Lipid Research and Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.

ASBMB provides a structured waiver program:

Full waivers: Available for corresponding authors in low-income countries as classified by the World Bank. These are handled automatically through the submission system.

Hardship waivers: Authors at any institution can request a fee reduction or full waiver by demonstrating genuine financial hardship. ASBMB evaluates these individually. The society has stated publicly that they don't want the APC to prevent publication of good science.

Process: Waiver requests go to the ASBMB business office, not to editors or reviewers. Editorial decisions are made independently of payment status. This separation is standard at society publishers and is genuinely maintained at ASBMB.

No institutional Read & Publish agreements. Unlike Springer Nature or Elsevier, ASBMB doesn't have a large network of transformative agreements with libraries. This means most JBC APCs are paid directly by authors, grants, or institutional OA funds. It's a gap that ASBMB has been slow to fill, and it puts JBC at a disadvantage compared to journals whose APCs are invisibly covered by library deals.

JBC publishes across all of biochemistry and molecular biology. Its scope includes:

• Protein structure and function
• Enzymology and catalysis
• Lipid biology
• Glycobiology
• Gene regulation and chromatin
• Signal transduction
• Metabolism
• Molecular biophysics

The journal has an impact factor of 4.0 (2024). This is a decline from its peak of around 5.3-5.5 in the 2010s, and a dramatic fall from the days when JBC was regularly above 6.0. The declining IF reflects several trends: the proliferation of specialized journals siphoning high-impact biochemistry papers, increased competition from broad-scope journals like Nature Communications and eLife, and the general IF inflation that has made a 4.0 look lower than it used to.

Despite the IF decline, JBC remains one of the most recognized journal names in biochemistry. It has published landmark work for over a century. Every biochemist knows the name, and it appears on the CVs of Nobel laureates and department chairs. The journal's history gives it a credibility that no recently launched journal can match.

JBC publishes approximately 2,500-3,000 articles per year, making it a large journal by biochemistry standards but far from megajournal territory. The acceptance rate is roughly 35-45%, placing it in the moderately selective tier.

As a fully gold OA journal, JBC meets all major funder mandates. Articles are CC BY by default and deposited in PubMed Central automatically. This automatic PMC deposit is particularly valuable for NIH-funded researchers, who don't need to manage compliance manually.

Before the 2021 flip, JBC compliance required navigating green OA deposit rules and embargo periods. The transition eliminated all of that complexity. If your funder requires open access, JBC delivers it without any extra steps.

JBC modernized its editorial process alongside the OA transition. The journal now uses a flat editorial structure with professional editors (most are practicing scientists with PhDs) rather than relying solely on academic editorial board members.

Key aspects of the current review process:

• Single-blind review: Reviewers see your identity, you don't see theirs
• Turnaround: Median time to first decision is approximately 30-35 days
• Revision window: Typically 60 days for major revisions
• Appeals: JBC accepts editorial appeals, which are reviewed by a different editor
• Preprints: Posting on bioRxiv or other preprint servers before submission is encouraged

One notable change: JBC eliminated the "accelerated communication" article type in 2021. All research articles now go through the same review process. This was part of simplifying the journal's structure during the OA transition.

• No page charges. The APC covers everything, regardless of article length.
• No color figure fees. All figures are free in the digital edition.
• ASBMB membership pays for itself if you publish even one JBC paper per year.
• Tax may apply. US sales tax or international VAT may be added.
• Supplementary data is free to upload through the journal's system.
• No institutional agreements means you're likely paying out of pocket or from grant funds. Budget accordingly.
• Transfer between ASBMB journals: If your JBC submission is rejected, editors may offer transfer to Journal of Lipid Research or Molecular & Cellular Proteomics. This avoids restarting the submission process.

JBC makes sense when:

1. You're publishing biochemistry research and want a recognized society journal
2. You're an ASBMB member and can access the discounted rate
3. You need gold OA compliance and want automatic PMC deposit
4. Your work is solid but not high enough impact for NAR, Molecular Cell, or Cell Reports
5. You value JBC's 100+ year legacy and name recognition in the field

It's less ideal when:

1. Budget is your primary concern (PLOS ONE at $1,695 covers biochemistry too)
2. You need institutional agreement coverage (JBC doesn't have Read & Publish deals)
3. You're targeting maximum IF for career advancement (aim for NAR, Molecular Cell, or PNAS)
4. Your work is outside core biochemistry (JBC's scope is narrower than Scientific Reports)

For official submission guidelines and current APC rates, visit the JBC author page at ASBMB.

Before you submit, make sure your methods and figures meet the standards JBC reviewers expect. Run a free readiness scan to spot issues that cause revision requests or desk rejections.