Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) APC and Open Access: What ASCO Actually Charges
JCO APC planning is simple: the standard route has no publication fee, while optional open access costs $5,700 (CC BY) or $4,850 (CC BY NC-ND).
Readiness scan
APC budgeted? See what Journal of Clinical Oncology reviewers are likely to push back on.
The fee is one decision. Getting through review is the harder one. Run the Free Readiness Scan with Journal of Clinical Oncology as your target to see desk-rejection risk, likely reviewer concerns, and journal fit.
Journal of Clinical Oncology 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
- Journal of Clinical Oncology offers open access publishing. Check whether your institution has a read-and-publish agreement.
- Funder mandates (NIH, Wellcome, UKRI) may require immediate OA, verify compliance before choosing a subscription route.
- Check the journal's correspondence for any access-route deadline; an APC does not establish when that choice is due.
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.
- Open access can widen practical access, but it does not change whether the journal fits the manuscript.
Quick answer: Journal of Clinical Oncology does not charge a standard APC. JCO is a hybrid ASCO journal, so the default subscription route has no publication fee, and the open-access route is optional.
The part authors often miss is that ASCO charges an $80 submission fee for Original Reports, and its open access terms list JCO's OA fee at $5,700 (CC BY) or $4,850 (CC BY-NC-ND), so the right planning answer is: no publication fee by default, an $80 submission fee for Original Reports, optional OA if your funder or institution needs it. For the hub, see the Journal of Clinical Oncology journal page.
JCO APC at a glance
Item | Current position |
|---|---|
Journal model | Hybrid |
Standard publication route | $0 |
Submission fee | $80 nonrefundable, Original Reports only |
Page charges | $0 |
Color charges | $0 |
Optional OA upgrade | Yes |
Optional OA fee (ASCO open access terms) | $5,700 CC BY; $4,850 CC BY-NC-ND |
NIH public-access route | Yes |
2024 impact factor | 41.9 |
CiteScore | 39.6 |
SJR | 10.163 |
Typical research acceptance band | Roughly 10% to 15% planning range |
If the real question is whether the paper is strong enough for JCO before the OA decision matters, use a Journal of Clinical Oncology submission readiness check.
If the bigger risk is that the paper is not yet framed like a practice-changing oncology submission, use a Journal of Clinical Oncology desk-rejection risk check.
What ASCO currently says, and what it does not say
The current public JCO author guidance is clear on the parts authors actually need:
- JCO is a subscription journal with an optional OA route
- the standard route does not use page or color charges as the baseline model
- ASCO's open access terms page lists JCO's OA prices by license type ($5,700 CC BY, $4,850 CC BY-NC-ND), billed after acceptance
- the public-access workflow still matters for NIH-funded work even when authors stay on the free route
That means the honest answer has two parts. JCO has no publication fee on the default route (plus an $80 submission fee for Original Reports), and the optional OA upgrade is priced at $5,700 for CC BY or $4,850 for CC BY-NC-ND.
What authors actually choose between
Route | What the author should assume |
|---|---|
Standard subscription publication | No publication fee (Original Reports carry an $80 submission fee) |
Optional OA upgrade | $5,700 (CC BY) or $4,850 (CC BY-NC-ND), billed after acceptance; 10% discount for ASCO members |
NIH-funded or public-access-sensitive work | Usually manageable without paying for immediate gold OA |
Institution or funder with OA mandate | Check coverage before assuming author out-of-pocket payment |
This is why JCO is unusual among elite oncology journals. The default route already avoids the most common hybrid-journal cost problem.
Metrics context behind the APC question
Metric | Current figure | Why it matters with the cost decision |
|---|---|---|
JIF | 46.2 | JCO is still one of the top clinical-oncology owner journals |
CiteScore | 39.6 | Scopus-side visibility is equally strong |
SJR | 10.163 | Prestige-weighted influence stays elite |
Planning acceptance band | Roughly 10% to 15% | Venue fit matters far more than APC optimization |
ASCO-published acceptance rate | About 11% of Original Reports | Figure from ASCO's author FAQ, not a planning estimate |
Decision timing | ASCO says authors can expect a decision about 4 weeks after submission, and about one third of submissions are rejected without external review | The journal screens fit before the fee becomes the real issue |
The real commercial point is simple: the fee is not the main bottleneck at JCO. The manuscript has to clear a flagship clinical-oncology screen first.
Long-run citation context
Year | JIF |
|---|---|
2017 | ~26.4 |
2018 | ~28.2 |
2019 | 32.9 |
2020 | 33.0 |
2021 | 44.5 |
2022 | 45.3 |
2023 | 42.7 |
2024 | 41.9 |
The year-over-year move is modestly negative. JCO is down from 42.7 in 2023 to 41.9 in 2024, but that still leaves it deep in the flagship clinical-oncology tier. The practical implication is that authors should read the OA question through fit, funder requirements, and audience, not through any fear that the journal has lost status.
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 JCO compares with nearby oncology options
Journal | Cost structure | Metric profile | Practical fit |
|---|---|---|---|
Journal of Clinical Oncology | No publication fee on the standard route, optional OA upgrade ($5,700 or $4,850) | IF 41.9, CiteScore 39.6 | Definitive clinical oncology evidence with practice consequence |
Hybrid with explicit APC band | Similar top-tier oncology prestige | Better if global oncology framing or Lancet family positioning fits better | |
Hybrid with explicit APC band | Lower top-line citation profile than JCO | Better when the paper fits the JAMA clinical-medicine lane | |
Hybrid with explicit OA route | Elite oncology but more ESMO-centered | Better when European oncology positioning is stronger | |
Premium hybrid APC | Higher biology prestige, narrower fit | Better when the core paper is cancer biology rather than clinical oncology |
The important difference is that JCO does not force the cost question early. At competitors, the APC is often public and material from the start. At JCO, the right first question is still: is this paper really a JCO paper?
What we see in pre-submission review work with JCO manuscripts
In our pre-submission review work, the APC question is usually downstream from three harder filters.
Practice-changing consequence is the real gate. A technically competent oncology paper still misses JCO when the editors do not see a treatment, guideline, or decision-level consequence.
The free route is only valuable if the paper belongs there. Authors sometimes focus on JCO's attractive cost structure when the manuscript is still better suited to a disease-specific oncology journal or a lower flagship tier.
Most authors should solve venue first, license second. If a paper is really strong enough for JCO, then the free route is a genuine advantage. If it is not, the APC discussion is mostly noise.
Submit if / Think twice if
Submit and treat the free route as a real advantage if:
- the manuscript is truly practice-changing or guideline-relevant clinical oncology
- the free standard route already satisfies your funder and access needs
- the corresponding institution can cover any OA requirement if immediate access becomes necessary
- the audience is clearly broader than one narrow disease subfield
Think twice if:
- you are optimizing around zero cost before confirming flagship fit
- the paper is translational or retrospective but not clearly practice-shaping
- your funder requires immediate gold OA and you do not yet know what support exists
- a disease-specific journal is the more honest home for the evidence package
Practical verdict
Journal of Clinical Oncology is one of the cleaner APC answers in oncology:
- No publication fee on the standard route (and an $80 submission fee for Original Reports)
- optional OA at $5,700 (CC BY) or $4,850 (CC BY-NC-ND), per ASCO's open access terms
- a journal where editorial fit matters much more than the fee
For most authors, the correct planning move is:
- confirm the paper is strong enough for JCO
- confirm whether the free route already satisfies the funder
- only then decide whether immediate OA is worth paying for
Frequently asked questions
There is no standard APC to publish in Journal of Clinical Oncology. JCO is a hybrid journal, so the default subscription route has no publication fee and the OA upgrade is optional.
ASCO's open access terms list the Journal of Clinical Oncology open access fee at $5,700 for a CC BY license and $4,850 for a CC BY-NC-ND license. APCs are billed after acceptance, and corresponding authors who are ASCO members receive a 10% discount.
Almost. On the standard subscription route, JCO charges no publication fee and no fee for color images, but ASCO charges a nonrefundable $80 submission fee for each initial submission of an Original Report. That is the default path for most authors.
Yes. ASCO's standard license for US government-funded research includes PubMed Central archiving, and as of January 1, 2026 authors are responsible for depositing the Just Accepted version to NIHMS (the editorial office does this if an Open Access license is purchased), even if the paper is not upgraded to immediate gold open access.
It is easiest to justify when the paper is already strong enough for JCO, the funder or institution requires immediate open access, or institutional support covers most of the bill.
Sources
- Journal Of Clinical Oncology - Author Guidelines
- ASCO Publications open access terms
- Journal Of Clinical Oncology - Journal Homepage
- ASCO Publications author FAQ
- Clarivate Journal Citation Reports (2026 release for the 2025 Journal Impact Factor)
Free guide
The list price is rarely the price you pay.
Waivers, funder agreements and institutional deals move it, and the deadline for most of them is submission, after which there is no appeal. Every figure in the guide was read off the publisher or funder page that sets it, on the date shown, and each one is linked at the end.
Before you upload
Want the full picture on Journal of Clinical Oncology?
Scope, selectivity, what editors want, common rejection reasons, and submission context, all in one place.
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Put the guidance to work
Build a journal decision from more than one signal.
Use comparison data as a starting point, then confirm the live source that governs the actual submission decision.
Where to go next
Same journal, next question
- Journal of Clinical Oncology Submission Guide: Editorial Screening Guide
- Is Journal of Clinical Oncology a Good Journal? The ASCO Flagship for Practice-Changing Oncology
- JCO Impact Factor 2026: 46.2, Q1
- JCO Acceptance Rate: What the Number Means for Authors
- Journal of Clinical Oncology Review Time: What Authors Can Actually Expect
- Rejected from Journal of Clinical Oncology? The 7 Best Journals to Submit Next