Lisa Matthias

Stories

Hundreds of free-to-publish journals switch to charging fees

As of September 2026: Lead researcher on the preprint tracking 440 journal conversions

Roughly 440 academic journals that launched offering free publishing and free reading have switched to charging fees. Most moved to an author-pays model, with new charges ranging from $8 to $5,300 per paper.

Updated Sep 22

Notable Quotes

It doesn't look like a survival story. It seems like these journals and their reputation had become commercially worth converting to a different model.

from Hundreds of free-to-publish journals switch to charging fees · Updated Sep 22

To me, that hints that the diamond model can work and it can be protected.

from Hundreds of free-to-publish journals switch to charging fees · Updated Sep 22