SAGE Open lowers APCs for HSS researchers

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SAGE has lowered the article-processing charge (APC) of its SAGE Open journal to $99 per article. The move follows an author survey at the end of last year that revealed that 70 per cent of accepted authors had paid for APCs in SAGE Open out of their own pocket.

Author declarations also showed that less than 15 per cent of all articles published across SAGE’s humanities and social sciences (HSS) portfolio in 2012 had allocated funding.

SAGE Open was launched in May 2011 as a broad gold open-access (OA journal for HSS. According to the publisher, since launch the journal has received more than 1400 manuscripts and published more than 160 articles. When the journal was launched the APC was set at $695 but the journal has also been offering a $395 'introductory author acceptance fee'.

‘We view this change as an investment in the future of OA publishing in the social sciences, and we will continue to adapt to our evolving landscape in order to better support HSS scholars,’ commented Bob Howard, vice president US Journals at SAGE. ‘The publication of the Finch report and the RCUK policy shift has meant that scholars are increasingly being required by their institutions or funders to make research immediately available. This is difficult for researchers in the HSS sector who have little or no direct funding.’