Science Advances APC and Open Access: The Only AAAS Journal Where You Pay to Publish

AAAS launched Science Advances in 2015 to solve two problems at once.

First, the flagship Science has extremely limited space. It publishes roughly 800 research articles per year and rejects over 93% of submissions. Science Advances provides a home for strong multidisciplinary research that doesn't fit Science's narrow format or scope requirements.

Second, Science is a subscription journal. As funder mandates increasingly require immediate OA, AAAS needed a journal where all content is open from publication. Science Advances fills that gap: it is an online-only gold open access journal, and its licensing page requires authors funded by cOAlition S members, the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, COAF or a UKRI council to select CC BY.

The journal has grown quickly. AAAS reported 35,831 submissions for 2025, across all scientific disciplines, and the journal has an impact factor of 13.9 (2024). That puts it in strong company, competitive with journals like Nature Communications and PNAS.

AAAS offers several paths to reduce or eliminate the APC:

In most cases AAAS automatically waives the entire APC for corresponding authors who indicate they are from a country in the developing world (Research4Life/Hinari Group A and Group B countries). Authors verify and apply discounts during the RightsLink payment steps.

Check the current Research4Life/Hinari country groups to see whether your country qualifies.

Active AAAS members who enter their membership number get 4% off the APC, saving $218. Only one membership discount is available per APC.

Promotion codes are a separate discount type: enter the code as provided, click Check Promo Code, then click Apply. AAAS will not correct for any discounts not applied at the time of the payment transaction.

The AAAS licensing and charges page lists country, membership and promotion-code discounts and a financial hardship process. It does not list institutional or consortium agreements. If your institution says it has an agreement with AAAS, ask your library which promotion code or process applies and use it during the RightsLink payment steps.

If you don't qualify for any of the above and the APC is a financial challenge, contact the Science Advances business office to ask for a financial hardship discount request form. Requests are considered case by case, authors anywhere in the world and in all fields may ask, and requests can be made at any point from before submission, but a discount is not granted until acceptance.

AAAS's licensing page names these funder requirements:

For authors with cOAlition S funding, the CC BY requirement on the licensing page applies to Science Advances. The Science access policies also describe a CC BY route for cOAlition S-funded authors who distribute their accepted manuscript after publication, so check with your funder which route it accepts.

The $5,450 base APC is the main charge. AAAS adds tax for authors located in Canada and Germany, and payments from mainland China routed through SocoPay carry a 6.18% tax and a 3% transaction fee. AAAS's FAQ also says there may be a page-length surcharge if additional space is necessary to convey findings or ensure reproducibility. There are also indirect costs to consider:

• License mistakes: Selecting CC BY-NC when your funder requires CC BY is the most common and most painful error. You won't notice until your funder's compliance check flags it. Fix it before publication, not after.

• Overlength manuscripts: Research Articles are limited to 15,000 words with up to 10 figures and/or tables combined and 80 references; Reviews to 10,000 words. Cutting an overlength paper isn't a fee, but it's a time cost.

• Data availability: The Science journals generally require all data underlying the results to be publicly available. They cover the cost of publishing data at Dryad (up to 10 GB) if the paper is accepted, and other repositories may charge their own fees.

• Preprint costs: $0. Check the AAAS editorial policies for current preprint rules before posting.

Understanding the timeline helps you budget and plan:

AAAS reports medians for 2025 research content of 174 days from submission to acceptance and 33 days from acceptance to online publication.

The journal publishes Research Articles, Research Resources, and Reviews; Focus articles and editorials are commissioned by the Editorial Board. Research Articles are the most common and carry the standard $5,450 APC regardless of length.

One useful feature: editors can offer a transfer from Science to a sibling Science journal. A 2022 editorial by a Science Advances senior deputy editor said most transfers are offered because the editors feel the content might be a better fit elsewhere; AAAS does not publish what a transfer carries over.

Science Advances is a strong choice when three conditions align: your work is multidisciplinary, your funder requires immediate OA, and you have $5,450 in your budget (or your institution covers it).

If you're comparing Science Advances against Nature Communications, the decision comes down to price vs. prestige. Nature Communications has a higher IF and broader recognition, but costs $1,900 more. In fields where the AAAS brand carries weight (physics, earth sciences, engineering), Science Advances may actually be the better-known journal.

If OA isn't required and you're targeting the AAAS ecosystem, consider submitting to the flagship Science first. It's free to publish there. If rejected, an editor may offer a transfer to Science Advances.

Before submitting to any AAAS journal, the manuscript needs to demonstrate broad significance beyond a single field. That's the editorial bar. If you want to test whether your paper hits that threshold, Science Advances submission readiness check to spot weaknesses before the editors do.

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 Science Advances submission readiness check.

Or see example reports before you finalize.