Article processing charges (APCs)

Earth System Science Data is committed to the open-access model of publishing. This ensures free web access to the results of research and maximum visibility for published papers. The costs of the administration and infrastructure of the review process, production of final papers, journal article publication, distribution, and long-term archiving are paid by the authors or a supporting institution in form of so-called article processing charges (APCs). APCs are levied for the publication of the final revised paper in the journal. Preprints as part of the peer-review process are free of charge.

APCs for full-length articles

The following per-paper APCs are valid for any full-length article submitted from 1 January 2025:

Country group discounts

Earth System Science Data provides standard discounts based on the origin of the corresponding author (CA) of a manuscript.

• Research4Life (R4L): Research4Life (R4L) classifies countries, areas, and territories in groups A and B according to the World Bank's total GNI and GNI per capita, the United Nations Least Developed Countries (LDCs) list, the Human Development Index (HDI), and WHO's healthy life expectancy (HALE). If the corresponding author (CA) of a manuscript is affiliated with an institution in an R4L country, independent whether this belongs to groups A or B, the manuscript receives a standard waiver of the APC. If a manuscript has more than 1 CA, the R4L waiver is only applied if all CAs are R4L-affiliated.
• Any country: if the corresponding author (CA) or at least 1 of the CAs is affiliated with an institution in a country that is not classified as R4L country, no standard discounts on APCs are provided, but authors can apply for individual support subject to editorial decision. Please see the web page on financial support.

Please note that Copernicus Publications validates any definitions of CAs. Thereby, the information given upon manuscript registration might be adjusted in the course of the peer-review and production process. The final assignment of a manuscript to a country group for the APC settlement is done by Copernicus Publications at the end of the proofreading process, just before the final journal article is published, and any possible adjustments of CAs until that moment are taken into account.

Institutional agreements (IAs)

Copernicus Publications fosters collaboration with institutions, universities, funders, and libraries to sign so-called institutional agreements (IAs) for the centralized settlement of APCs. The vast majority of IAs are based on the affiliation of the corresponding author. Upon manuscript registration, the submitting author defines all co-authors as well as any corresponding authors (CAs). Then a relation between a CA and an IA can be established defining the further APC settlement. This could include 100% coverage, but if an IA covers less than 100%, the remaining APC to be paid by the authors is defined through the IA price, independent of other possible origins of CAs with other regulations. If a manuscript has more than 1 CA and more than 1 IA could be related, the submitting author needs to select 1 IA for the APC settlement. Please note that Copernicus Publications validates any definitions of CAs and IA selections. Thereby, the information given upon manuscript registration might be adjusted in the course of the peer-review and production process. The final assignment of a manuscript to an IA is done by Copernicus Publications at the end of the proofreading process, just before the final journal article is published, and any possible adjustments of CAs until that moment are taken into account. An overview of institutional agreements can be found on the financial support web page.

Financial support

In addition to the APC coverage by institutional agreements or APC discounts based on the origin of the corresponding authors, further forms of financial support are available at Earth System Science Data that require an application by the authors and an editorial decision. Additionally, a number of external organizations provide funds for APC payments. Please study our full overview of financial support:

Financial support