Author Publication Fee FAQ

As of July 2020, Inquiries Journal has followed the lead of most other open-access academic publications in implementing an Author Publication Fee to better support the financial health of the journal for the long term.

Why Charge an Author Publication Fee?

Since our founding in 2009, we have resisted charging any type of publication fee despite the fact that this practice has become increasingly common in the world of open-access publishing. Instead, we tried to find other means of financial support for the journal, including display advertising as a primary source of our operating budget.

Over the past years, however, it became increasingly clear that this model was insufficient for the long-term sustainability of the journal.

The Author Publication Fee will provide needed financial support to the journal, allow us to dedicate more time to working with authors on their work, improve our systems and digital infrastructure, and ultimately grow and improve the quality of our publication.

 

How Much is the Fee? 

Beginning July 15, all submissions that are accepted for publication after completing the review process will be subject to an Author Publication Fee of $175.00. We will require this one-time fee to be paid upon completion of the review and prior to the publication of the article.

 

What if I Can’t Afford the Fee?

Our goal is to help the authors that we work with to the greatest extent possible while still managing the journal in a financially responsible way. For those that find the fee to be a significant hurdle, we will offer support in the following ways:

  1. Payment Plan: the publication fee may be broken into multiple payments over several weeks or months at no cost to the author to help minimize the burden of making a single larger payment.
  2. Institutional Funding: most colleges and universities will assist students and faculty with the payment of the fee, either by paying the fee directly or by reimbursing the author. We will assist our authors in applying for institutional funding to help cover the cost of the fee.
  3. Financial Hardship Grant: we have also established a small internal fund to award need-based grants to help offset the cost of the fee. This fund will help cover up to 50% of the cost of the fee. For more information and to apply for a Financial Hardship Grant, please see our Financial Hardship Grant Application.
 

We believe this model strikes a needed balance between the financial needs of the journal and our goal of simultaneously minimizing the barriers to publishing for students and young academics.