Physical Review B APC and Open Access: APS Pricing, SCOAP3, and What Physicists Actually Pay

PRB is hybrid, which means the subscription route is available:

1. Subscription track: No APC. APS's author information lists no page charges for it either.

1. Open access track: APC of $2,910 (2026), with the article published under a CC BY license on publication.

APS's submission FAQ says there is no required fee to publish in hybrid journals on a standard basis, with all APS subscribers able to access your research. Some older guides describe APS page charges; APS's current PRB author information does not list them, so confirm the current charges with APS before budgeting for any.

APS has institutional open access agreements, though they work differently from the big commercial publishers:

APS institutional open access agreements: APS says eligible authors at participating institutions can publish open access in Physical Review journals at no additional cost, with eligible articles identified automatically. The corresponding author's affiliation at submission determines eligibility, and each agreement's summary lists its eligible journals.

SCOAP3 and Physical Review B: SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics) is a CERN-led initiative that covers APCs for high-energy physics articles. APS participates for articles published in Physical Review Letters, Physical Review C and Physical Review D. Physical Review B, focused on condensed matter and materials physics, is not on that list.

This is an important distinction because some researchers assume SCOAP3 covers all APS journals. It doesn't. PRB authors should not count on SCOAP3.

APS member discounts: APS does not list a member discount on the APC. It states that it does not currently provide discounts or waivers other than its lower-income-country waiver (and a financial-need reduction at Physical Review Physics Education Research).

Automatic waivers: APS offers APC waivers to corresponding authors doing research in over 115 lower-income countries and territories; eligibility details are on APS's waiver page.

Hardship waivers: APS does not list one. It states that it does not currently provide other discounts or waivers, and that eligibility questions must be sent to help@aps.org no later than the point of article submission.

Grant coverage: Many US physics grants from NSF and DOE include provisions for publication costs. Check your award terms to see whether they cover the APS APC.

For Plan S compliance, publish gold open access, which APS publishes under CC BY 4.0.

APS has a green OA route: for subscription articles for which APS holds copyright, authors have the right to post and update the article on free-access e-print servers (including arXiv) and repositories, as long as the version of record prepared by APS is not used. This is a major advantage. Many physicists post to arXiv, which provides free public access without any APC. APS says this route is compliant with many funder policies around the world, including in the USA.

The arXiv culture in physics is so strong that the practical impact of formal gold OA is smaller than in biomedical sciences. Most condensed matter physicists read papers on arXiv before they appear in the journal. The journal version provides the formal record and peer review validation, but access isn't the bottleneck it is in fields without a preprint culture.

The gold standard in condensed matter. PRB has been the primary journal for condensed matter physics for over 50 years. It's where the field publishes its foundational work. Papers on superconductivity, magnetism, topological materials, semiconductor physics, and electronic structure theory all land here. The journal's archive is essentially the history of condensed matter physics.

Rigorous but fair review. APS peer review has a reputation for thoroughness. PRB referees tend to be senior researchers who provide detailed technical feedback. The review process is slower than at some competitors (APS reports a median of 47 days to the first decision after review), but the quality of referee reports is generally high.

Letters. PRB publishes Letters (formerly Rapid Communications), short papers of up to 4,500 words reporting important results. APS says Letters receive priority handling. The format is similar to PRL but specific to condensed matter topics.

Enormous archive. PRB publishes roughly 5,000-6,000 articles per year. The journal has published well over 200,000 articles since its founding. This volume makes it the default destination for solid condensed matter work that may not reach the novelty bar of PRL or Nature Physics but represents rigorous, peer-reviewed contributions.

• The APC is the main cost for open access: $2,910 in 2026. APS's current author information lists no page charges.

• Color print charges ($1,090 for a single figure and $595 for each additional figure) only matter for print. Online color is free.

• Supplementary material is hosted on the APS site at no charge

• arXiv posting is free, and APS supports submitting directly from an arXiv e-print.

• LaTeX is preferred. APS provides the REVTeX class for manuscript preparation, and a PDF is all that is needed for peer review. Word source files are also accepted.

• Resubmission after rejection is possible. APS allows authors to resubmit to a different Physical Review journal (e.g., PRB to Physical Review Materials) with the referee reports transferred.

Physical Review B makes sense when:

1. Your condensed matter or materials physics work is technically solid

1. You want publication in the field's most established journal

1. Your grant or institution covers the APC, or you are publishing on the subscription route

1. The arXiv preprint provides immediate access, making formal gold OA less urgent

Consider alternatives if:

1. You're working on quantum materials specifically (npj Quantum Materials offers a higher IF with covered APCs)

1. The APC is a concern and no agreement, waiver or grant covers it (the subscription route has no APC)

1. You need a higher-profile venue for career purposes (PRL or Nature Physics for top results)

Before submitting, make sure your manuscript meets PRB's technical standards. Referees check mathematical rigor, computational methodology, and experimental detail closely. Physical Review B submission readiness check to catch the issues that lead to rejection, even at journals you've published in before.

For a broader perspective on how journal metrics influence where to submit, see our detailed guide.

Method note: this page was reviewed against APS author pages, PRB journal pages, JCR context, APS author-charge pages, and Manusights condensed-matter submission-screening patterns. We checked the APC and page-charge choice separately from journal fit because cost, access route, and citation metrics do not change the manuscript evidence an editor sees.

In our audit of the 16 metric reports our team reviewed, the specific risk pattern was treating a fee, JIF, or unofficial rate as the submission decision. The editorial triage pattern is stricter in practice: editors actually screen for scope, evidence strength, and audience fit before cost or citation metrics matter.

Use this year-over-year checklist before citing numbers from Physical Review B in a grant, CV, or submission memo. It is a verification aid, not a claim that every older value is stable.

Do not use one number as the whole Physical Review B decision. Check CiteScore, SJR, H-index, article type, publication volume, and the journal's real audience before treating the fee, acceptance rate, or JIF as decisive.

In our review work, the common mistake is using a metric to justify a weak fit. A stronger submission decision asks whether the manuscript would still look native to the journal if the headline number disappeared.

Worth paying if:

• Your funder mandates open access (check Plan S / cOAlition S requirements)

• An institutional Read & Publish agreement covers the fee

• Open access visibility meaningfully benefits your research area

• The APC fits within your grant budget

Consider alternatives if:

• The APC is a personal out-of-pocket expense

• A subscription option or green OA (preprint + embargo) satisfies your funder

• Another OA journal with a lower APC would provide similar visibility

For a manuscript-specific signal before you submit, run a Physical Review B submission readiness check.

Or see example reports before you finalize.