Scientific Reports APC and Open Access: Costs, Waivers, and Whether the Price Is Right
Scientific Reports charges $2,850 for open access. Gold OA, Springer Nature waivers, institutional deals. How it compares to PLOS ONE and Frontiers journals.
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Quick answer: Scientific Reports charges $2,850 for every article. It's a fully gold open access journal, so there's no subscription track and no way to publish for free unless your institution covers the APC or you qualify for a waiver. At $2,850, it sits in the mid-range of megajournal pricing, more expensive than PLOS ONE but cheaper than most Frontiers journals.
What Scientific Reports charges
Currency | Amount |
|---|---|
USD | $2,850 |
EUR | €2,490 |
GBP | £2,290 |
The APC is charged at acceptance, not submission. There are no submission fees, no page charges, and no color figure fees. The $2,850 covers everything.
Scientific Reports is published by Springer Nature as part of the Nature Portfolio, but don't let the name mislead you. The APC is a fraction of what Nature ($12,850) or Nature Communications ($7,350) charge. The journal sits in Springer Nature's accessible tier, priced to compete with PLOS ONE and Frontiers journals rather than the selective Nature-branded titles.
Gold OA only: no free publishing route
Unlike Nature or Cell (which offer a free subscription track alongside paid OA), Scientific Reports is fully gold open access. Every article is free to read from publication day. Every article requires the APC.
This means you can't dodge the fee by choosing a subscription track. Your options are:
- Pay the $2,850 from your grant or personal funds
- Have your institution cover it through a Read & Publish agreement
- Apply for a waiver or discount
Institutional coverage: often included
Because Springer Nature has the largest Read & Publish network in academic publishing (1,000+ institutions in 30+ countries), Scientific Reports is frequently covered by institutional agreements.
Key agreements active in 2026:
Region / Consortium | Coverage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
UK (Jisc) | Full APC coverage for UK authors | Includes all Springer Nature OA journals |
Germany (DEAL) | Full coverage for German institutions | Springer Nature DEAL agreement |
Netherlands (UKB) | Full coverage | Dutch universities |
Australia (CAUL) | Capped shared agreement | May run out late in calendar year |
Sweden, Finland, Norway | Full or partial coverage | Various national consortium deals |
United States | Varies by institution | No national deal; check your library |
If your institution has any Springer Nature open access agreement, Scientific Reports is almost certainly included. It's one of the most commonly covered journals because of its high volume (20,000+ articles/year) and relatively low per-article cost.
Check your eligibility at Springer Nature's institutional agreements portal or ask your library directly.
Waivers and discounts
Springer Nature's waiver policy applies fully to Scientific Reports:
Automatic waivers:
- Corresponding authors in Research4Life Group A countries (low-income) get a full APC waiver
- Authors in Group B countries (lower-middle-income) get a 50% discount
Case-by-case waivers:
- Authors who face genuine financial hardship can request a waiver at acceptance
- Springer Nature states that waiver decisions don't influence editorial decisions
- Approval rates are reasonable but not guaranteed for researchers at well-funded institutions
No membership discounts. Unlike AAAS (which offers AAAS member discounts for Science Advances), Springer Nature doesn't offer membership-based APC reductions for Scientific Reports.
Funder mandate compliance
Funder/Policy | Compliant? | Route |
|---|---|---|
Plan S (cOAlition S) | Yes | Gold OA with CC BY license |
NIH Public Access | Yes | Immediate OA, PMC deposit |
UKRI | Yes | CC BY |
ERC | Yes | CC BY |
Wellcome Trust | Yes | CC BY |
HHMI | Yes | CC BY |
NSF | Yes | Immediate OA |
Scientific Reports satisfies every major funder mandate. As a fully gold OA journal, there's no embargo issue. Articles are immediately free under CC BY (the default) or CC BY-NC-ND if you specifically request it.
For Plan S compliance, CC BY is the required license. Don't select CC BY-NC-ND if your funder is a cOAlition S member.
How Scientific Reports compares
Journal | APC (USD) | Model | IF (2024) | Acceptance Rate | Annual Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scientific Reports | $2,850 | Gold OA | 3.9 | ~57% | ~20,000 |
PLOS ONE | $1,695 | Gold OA | 2.6 | ~60% | ~20,000 |
Frontiers in Immunology | ~$3,400 | Gold OA | 5.9 | ~45-55% | ~8,000 |
BMJ Open | $2,850 | Gold OA | 2.3 | ~45-50% | ~3,500 |
PeerJ | ~$1,700 | Gold OA | 2.3 | ~45% | ~3,000 |
Scientific Reports and PLOS ONE are the two megajournal heavyweights. Both publish ~20,000 articles per year with similar acceptance rates. The key differences:
Scientific Reports advantages: Higher IF (3.9 vs 2.6), Springer Nature brand recognition, slightly faster review times in some fields.
PLOS ONE advantages: Lower APC ($1,695 vs $2,850), stronger institutional "All-In" agreements at some US universities (Ohio State, Duke), longer track record as a megajournal pioneer.
For most researchers choosing between the two, the decision comes down to field norms and budget. In biomedical sciences, both are equally accepted. In some physical sciences and engineering fields, Scientific Reports may carry slightly more weight because of its connection to the Nature brand.
The "Nature" name: what it means and what it doesn't
Scientific Reports carries the Nature Portfolio branding and is indexed alongside Nature, Nature Communications, and the Nature Reviews series. This creates confusion.
What the Nature connection means:
- Published by the same company (Springer Nature)
- Same infrastructure and production quality
- Indexed in the same databases
- Uses the Springer Nature author portal
What it doesn't mean:
- Scientific Reports is NOT editorially connected to Nature
- Getting published in Scientific Reports does NOT imply Nature-level selectivity
- The IF (3.9) reflects the journal's own citation performance, not Nature's
Some researchers have been criticized for listing "Nature Portfolio" on their CVs in a way that implies a Nature publication. Be clear in your communications: Scientific Reports is a reputable journal, but it's not Nature.
Hidden costs
- No page charges. The APC covers everything.
- No color figure fees. All figures are free.
- Tax applies. VAT or local sales tax may be added depending on your country. In the EU, this can add 15-25%.
- Supplementary data is free to upload but must be hosted through Springer Nature's system or an approved repository.
- Reprints cost extra if you need physical copies, though most researchers don't.
The practical decision
Scientific Reports makes sense when:
- You need a fast, indexed, gold OA publication
- Your work is technically sound but not high enough impact for selective journals
- Your institution has a Springer Nature agreement that covers the APC
- You want the Springer Nature production quality and indexing infrastructure
It makes less sense when:
- Budget is your primary constraint (PLOS ONE is $1,155 cheaper)
- You need a selective journal for career advancement
- Your field specifically values a different megajournal
Before submitting anywhere, make sure your paper meets the technical standards reviewers will check. Run a free readiness scan to catch methodology and formatting issues that lead to rejection even at accessible journals.
Reference library
Use the core publishing datasets alongside this guide
This article answers one part of the publishing decision. The reference library covers the recurring questions that usually come next: how selective journals are, how long review takes, and what the submission requirements look like across journals.
Dataset / reference guide
Peer Review Timelines by Journal
Reference-grade journal timeline data that authors, labs, and writing centers can cite when discussing realistic review timing.
Dataset / benchmark
Biomedical Journal Acceptance Rates
A field-organized acceptance-rate guide that works as a neutral benchmark when authors are deciding how selective to target.
Reference table
Journal Submission Specs
A high-utility submission table covering word limits, figure caps, reference limits, and formatting expectations.
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