Molecules APC and Open Access: What MDPI Charges and How It Compares to Other Chemistry Journals

Molecules is fully gold open access. There is no subscription track. Every published article is immediately free under a CC BY 4.0 license.

This means:

• You can't publish for free by choosing a subscription route
• The APC is required for every accepted article
• All content is immediately and permanently open access
• Anyone can reuse, redistribute, and build on your work with attribution

If you're comparing this to hybrid journals where subscription-track publishing is free, the mandatory APC is an important cost difference. A hybrid Elsevier journal at $4,200 OA effectively costs $0 if you choose the subscription route. With Molecules, there's no $0 option.

MDPI has built several discount mechanisms into its pricing:

Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP): Over 500 institutions participate in MDPI's institutional program. Authors at participating institutions receive a 10% APC discount, bringing the Molecules fee to roughly CHF 2,430 (~$2,610).

Editorial board members: Researchers who serve on the Molecules editorial board receive discounts on APCs, typically around 20%.

Reviewer discounts: MDPI offers review vouchers to peer reviewers. Completing a review can earn you a discount coupon for future publications. The value varies.

Invited authors: Guest editors and authors invited for special issues sometimes receive partial or full waivers. MDPI runs a very large number of special issues, and waiver offers are a common incentive.

Society discounts: Some chemistry societies have arrangements with MDPI. Check whether your professional membership provides any reduction.

These discounts are less generous than the full APC coverage offered by Elsevier or Springer Nature Read & Publish agreements, but they're more widely available. MDPI's IOAP program covers institutions in countries where Elsevier R&P deals don't exist.

Automatic waivers: MDPI provides full waivers for corresponding authors in low-income countries (World Bank classification). Authors from lower-middle-income countries receive partial waivers.

Financial hardship waivers: MDPI accepts hardship waiver requests during submission. The approval rate is reported to be moderate. Unlike some publishers who are vague about their waiver criteria, MDPI has a relatively transparent process.

Important note: MDPI states that waiver requests don't influence editorial decisions. The review process is supposed to be independent of whether a waiver was requested.

Molecules satisfies all major OA mandates because it's fully gold OA with CC BY as the default license. There's no license selection decision to worry about, and no embargo period since everything is immediately open.

Several characteristics set Molecules apart in the mid-tier chemistry journal landscape:

Established MDPI title. Molecules launched in 1996 and was one of MDPI's founding journals. It has almost three decades of publication history, which gives it stronger citation metrics and editorial stability than MDPI journals launched in the 2010s. This matters because some newer MDPI titles have faced questions about editorial standards.

Natural products strength. Molecules has a particularly strong reputation in natural products chemistry, phytochemistry, and medicinal chemistry from natural sources. If your work involves isolation, characterization, or bioactivity testing of plant-derived compounds, Molecules is a natural fit. The journal's special issues frequently focus on these areas.

Fast peer review. MDPI journals are known for rapid turnaround. Molecules typically delivers a first decision within 15-20 days. Total time from submission to publication is often under 2 months. For researchers on tenure timelines or grant reporting deadlines, this speed is a real advantage.

Open peer review option. MDPI offers authors the choice of open peer review, where reviewer reports and author responses are published alongside the article. This isn't mandatory, but it's available for researchers who want transparency.

High volume and special issues. Molecules publishes over 6,000 articles per year and runs hundreds of special issues annually. Special issue invitations are common. This volume means a higher acceptance rate than selective journals, which is both a feature (faster path to publication) and a concern (perceived lower selectivity).

Any honest discussion of Molecules needs to address the elephant in the room: MDPI's reputation.

MDPI has faced criticism for aggressive special issue solicitations, high publication volume, and concerns about editorial quality in some of its newer journals. Beall's List controversially included MDPI before the list was taken down, though MDPI was later removed and the publisher has consistently denied predatory practices.

Here's the practical reality for Molecules specifically:

1. It's indexed in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science with a legitimate impact factor
2. It's Q2 in Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
3. It has nearly 30 years of publication history
4. Major institutions publish in it regularly

The concerns about MDPI are more relevant to newer, lower-impact titles in the portfolio. Molecules is among the publisher's strongest journals. That said, some hiring committees and grant reviewers do view MDPI publications with skepticism. If you're in a career stage where journal prestige matters significantly, weigh this perception against the practical benefits of cost and speed.

• No page charges beyond the APC
• No color figure fees
• Currency risk: The APC is in Swiss Francs. USD equivalents fluctuate with exchange rates.
• VAT may apply for European authors
• LaTeX support is available but MDPI's Word template is more commonly used and better supported by their production team
• English editing: MDPI offers optional English editing services for an additional fee. This isn't required, but manuscripts with language issues may be flagged during review.
• Preprint posting: MDPI encourages preprint posting on their own platform (Preprints.org) or other servers. This doesn't affect publication.

Molecules makes sense when:

1. Your chemistry research is solid and you want indexed, Q2 publication with a recognized IF
2. Speed matters and you need a decision within weeks, not months
3. Your budget can handle ~$2,900 but the $4,000+ Elsevier hybrid APCs are too steep without institutional coverage
4. Your work fits the journal's strengths, especially natural products and medicinal chemistry

Think carefully if:

1. Budget is very tight and RSC Advances (~$2,100) or ChemistrySelect (~$2,000) would do the job
2. Journal prestige is a priority for your career stage, and MDPI perception matters in your department
3. Your institution has Springer Nature or Elsevier agreements that would make those publishers' journals effectively free
4. You're targeting a higher-impact chemistry audience (consider JACS, Angewandte Chemie, or Chemical Science instead)

Whatever you decide, make sure your manuscript is polished before submission. Even at journals with rapid turnaround, reviewers check methodology, data quality, and figure presentation. Run a free readiness scan to catch the issues that slow down review and lead to unnecessary revision rounds.

For more on journal impact factors and what they mean for your submission strategy, see our detailed guide. You can also read our overview of how open access fees work across publishers for broader context.