Science (AAAS) APC and Open Access: What Authors Actually Pay and Why It's Complicated

Science's author pages describe no article processing charge for the flagship journal. The charge Science does list is for color: the cost of color images in print is $650 for the first color figure and $450 for each additional color figure, with a comparable charge for color in reprints. If your paper is accepted, Science also covers the cost of publishing your data (up to 10 GB) publicly at Dryad.

This sounds ideal until you hit the open access question. Science's author pages describe no gold open access option for the flagship journal's research articles, so there is no listed way to pay to make your paper immediately free. Instead, AAAS follows an access policy with these elements:

• Immediately after publication: Authors of peer-reviewed research may post the accepted version of their paper on their personal or institutional archival website or in a repository of their choice. One author also gets an e-print link through which users can freely access the final published paper.

• 12 months after publication: Original research papers are freely accessible with registration on the Science website.

• Public health and genome sequence papers: Peer-reviewed research with immediate relevance to public health, or that reports the reference sequence of a genome, is made free for reading upon publication, and authors may self-archive such papers and distribute their accepted manuscript under a CC BY license.

This creates a real problem for researchers with Plan S funders. cOAlition S asks for immediate open access, and Science's author pages describe no gold open access option in the flagship. Science does allow some funder-required routes, described below.

The collision between subscription journals like Science and Plan S has been a contentious issue in scholarly publishing. Science's editorial policies set out what the journal allows:

1. Employer or funder requirement: Authors of peer-reviewed research submitted to a Science subscription journal on or after 1 January 2023 who are required by their employer or funder to distribute their accepted manuscript under a CC BY license may do so upon publication of the final version by AAAS.

1. cOAlition S-funded research: Authors of cOAlition S-funded peer-reviewed research submitted to a Science subscription journal on or after 1 January 2021 may distribute their accepted manuscript under a CC BY license or a CC BY-ND license (if permitted by the funder) upon publication of the final version by AAAS.

1. Choose Science Advances instead: If your work fits either journal and immediate OA compliance is non-negotiable, Science Advances offers a CC BY license and stays within the AAAS ecosystem.

Check these terms against your funder's policy and your institution's rights-retention rules before you submit, because the dates and the timing (upon publication of the final version) matter.

Science Advances is a fully gold open access journal. All published articles are immediately open to all readers, and the journal is supported by article processing charges paid by authors whose articles have been accepted. The cost to authors:

The APC is charged after acceptance, not at submission. Payments are processed through RightsLink (Copyright Clearance Center) in U.S. dollars, and you can pay by credit card, wire transfer, or an invoice sent to the author.

Country waivers: In most cases, AAAS automatically waives the entire APC of corresponding authors who have indicated they are from a country in the developing world (Research4Life / Hinari Group A and Group B countries).

AAAS membership discount: Active AAAS members can enter their membership number to receive a 4% discount on APCs. Only one membership discount is available per APC. On a $5,450 APC that is $218, which may or may not cover the cost of membership, so check the current membership price first.

Promotion codes: A promotion code discount applies only if you enter the code as provided, click "Check Promo Code", and then click "Apply". Once an APC payment is completed, AAAS will not correct for discounts that were not applied at the time of the transaction.

Financial hardship: If 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, and authors anywhere in the world and in all fields may ask. They may be sought at any point from pre-submission to acceptance but are not granted until acceptance.

If your funder allows the Science access policy, Science works. If your funder demands immediate OA, Science Advances is the AAAS option that offers it.

Science (flagship):

• Color images in print cost $650 for the first color figure and $450 for each additional one.

• Science describes no submission fee in its author pages.

• If you need to provide open access and your funder won't cover Science Advances, check the Science access policy above before you rely on the funder-required CC BY route.

Science Advances:

• The $5,450 base APC is the main charge. Tax is added automatically for authors located in Canada and Germany, and authors paying from mainland China through SocoPay see a 6.18% tax and a 3% transaction fee added to their total.

• License choice matters: you choose between CC BY-NC and CC BY at the first step of APC payment, and authors funded by the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, COAF, a UKRI council or a cOAlition S member are required to select CC BY. If the wrong license was selected, contact the Science Advances business office to correct it.

The choice between Science and Science Advances isn't just about money. It's about what your career needs and what your funder allows.

Publish in Science (no APC described) if:

• Your funder allows the Science access policy

• The prestige of the flagship Science brand matters for your career stage (tenure, grants)

• Your work fits the scope of Science's short-format Research Articles

Publish in Science Advances ($5,450 base APC) if:

• Your funder requires immediate open access

• Your paper needs more space than Science's strict word limits allow

• You want your work freely accessible from day one

• You're at a career stage where OA reach matters more than brand

Either way, getting past the desk at AAAS journals requires a paper with broad significance and clean methodology. If you want to check whether your manuscript is ready for this level of scrutiny, Science (AAAS) submission readiness check before submitting.