MNRAS APC and Open Access: Why It's Free to Publish, and When You'd Pay

This is a question researchers from other fields always ask. In biomedical sciences, APCs of $3,000-$5,000 are standard. How does an astronomy journal with an impact factor around 4.8 survive without charging authors?

Three factors:

1. The Royal Astronomical Society's endowment. The RAS is a learned society founded in 1820 with substantial reserves. Journal publishing is part of its charitable mission, not a profit center. The Society has consistently prioritized affordable access for astronomers worldwide.

2. Oxford University Press partnership. OUP handles production, hosting, and distribution. The revenue from institutional subscriptions (libraries paying for MNRAS access) covers production costs. OUP is a not-for-profit publisher owned by the University of Oxford, so the margin pressure is lower than at commercial publishers.

3. Astronomy's publication culture. Astronomy has a strong tradition of preprints on arXiv. Most papers appear on arXiv before or simultaneously with journal submission. This means the "access" argument for open access is weaker in astronomy than in other fields, because anyone can read the preprint for free. Libraries still subscribe to MNRAS for the version of record, but the paywall is less of a barrier than in fields without a preprint culture.

This combination is unusual. Most scientific societies have shifted toward APCs or are under pressure to do so. MNRAS's ability to remain free depends on continued institutional subscriptions and RAS financial health. There's no guarantee this model lasts forever, but there's also no immediate sign of change.

If you want or need gold open access in MNRAS, here's how it works:

1. Your paper is accepted.
2. OUP sends you a license-to-publish form.
3. You're offered the option to make the paper open access.
4. If you choose OA, you select a license (CC BY or CC BY-NC) and pay the APC.
5. If you don't choose OA, your paper is published behind the paywall at no cost.

The CC BY license is more expensive (~$2,800) and allows commercial reuse. CC BY-NC (~$2,200) restricts commercial use. Plan S mandates CC BY, so if your funder is a cOAlition S member, you need the more expensive option.

Most authors who choose OA at MNRAS do so because their funder requires it, not because they need it for readership (since the arXiv preprint is already freely available).

Oxford University Press has institutional Read & Publish agreements that can cover your MNRAS open access fee:

If your institution has an OUP R&P agreement and you want open access, the APC is covered automatically. You won't see an invoice.

But here's the thing: since MNRAS is free to publish in without OA, these agreements matter much less than they do for journals where you have to pay. If your institution doesn't have an OUP deal, you can simply publish through the subscription track at no cost and deposit your accepted manuscript on arXiv (which most astronomers already do).

Even though MNRAS is already free to publish in, OUP offers support for those who want OA but can't afford the charge:

• Research4Life Group A: Full OA waiver for corresponding authors in low-income countries.
• Group B: Significant discount for lower-middle-income countries.
• Case-by-case waivers: Available for hardship situations. OUP states that editorial decisions are independent of waiver requests.
• RAS fellowship: RAS fellows and members may receive discounts on OA charges through their membership benefits.

In practice, most MNRAS authors who can't pay for OA simply don't choose it. The subscription track is free, the arXiv preprint is freely available, and the practical access difference is minimal in astronomy.

Astronomy has an advantage over other fields here. Because arXiv preprints are standard practice, many funder mandates are automatically satisfied by the preprint deposit, without needing gold OA at the journal. NSF and NASA are both satisfied by arXiv deposits. NIH is satisfied by PubMed Central deposit of the accepted manuscript.

Plan S is the exception. cOAlition S funders require either gold OA with CC BY or use of the Rights Retention Strategy (where you retain rights to the accepted manuscript and license it CC BY yourself). Some UK researchers use the Rights Retention approach to publish in MNRAS for free while still complying with UKRI mandates. This avoids the OA charge entirely.

A few facts that matter for submission decisions:

MNRAS publishes roughly 4,000 papers per year, making it one of the highest-volume astronomy journals. The acceptance rate is approximately 40-50%, higher than ApJ's ~30%. This doesn't mean MNRAS has lower standards. It means MNRAS publishes a broader range of work, including incremental advances that ApJ might not take.

The median review time is 6-8 weeks for a first decision. MNRAS uses a single-referee system for most papers (one reviewer, not two). This makes the process faster but means your paper's fate depends more heavily on the specific reviewer assigned.

MNRAS Letters is a separate section within MNRAS for short, high-impact communications (5 pages maximum). Letters go through a faster review process and are more selective. Publishing a MNRAS Letter carries slightly more prestige than a regular MNRAS paper.

The journal has no strict formatting template for initial submission. You can submit in any reasonable LaTeX format, and MNRAS won't reject for formatting issues at the initial stage. This is a real time-saver compared to journals that require specific templates at submission.

MNRAS is refreshingly straightforward:

• No page charges: Zero, regardless of paper length.
• No color figure fees: All figures are free.
• No submission fee: Submit as many times as needed.
• No overlength charges: Write a 30-page paper if the science demands it.
• No supplementary data fees: Online-only tables and data are free.

The only cost you might encounter is the OA APC ($2,200-$2,800) if you choose gold open access. Everything else is covered by the RAS/OUP subscription model.

One non-obvious cost: if you need to deposit your paper in a repository for funder compliance and your institution doesn't have automated deposit workflows, you'll spend your own time doing the administrative work. This isn't a fee, but it's a real cost for busy researchers.

For astronomers choosing where to publish:

1. Cost is a factor? MNRAS is free. This is its single greatest advantage. Submit to MNRAS and spend your grant money on telescope time instead.
2. Need immediate gold OA? If your funder requires it and you don't want to deal with Rights Retention, submit to ApJ (already gold OA) or pay $2,200-$2,800 at MNRAS.
3. UK-based with UKRI funding? Check if your Jisc agreement covers MNRAS OA. If yes, choose gold OA for free. If not, use the Rights Retention Strategy.
4. European? Consider A&A as well, especially if your institution has ESO coverage.
5. High-profile result? Nature Astronomy is the prestige play, but the cost difference ($12,850 vs. $0) is enormous. Only submit there if the result genuinely demands that venue.

Before submitting to MNRAS, make sure your data reduction and statistical analysis sections are rock-solid. Astronomy reviewers scrutinize methodology closely, and MNRAS's single-referee system means one critical reviewer can determine your paper's outcome. Run a free readiness scan to check for issues that trigger rejection at this level.