Funding and independence
The data on JournalFees are open under CC BY 4.0 and stay open. Some services around the data are paid or being tested. No payment changes what we publish, the order publishers appear in, or how we describe them.
Updated 21 October 2026
JournalFees is funded by its operators. We are testing paid services for institutions and publishers. A publisher cannot pay to change our data, the order in which publishers appear, or how we describe them. Corrections are free for everyone and are logged publicly. As of 21 October 2026 we have received no payment from any publisher or institution.
The rules
- Data stay open. Prices, policies and country lists are published under CC BY 4.0 with the source URL and the date each figure was read. We do not sell access to them.
- No payment changes the data. Not a price, not a policy summary, not the order of publishers, not the wording of a finding.
- Corrections are free. Anyone, including a publisher, can report an error. We check it against the publisher’s page, correct it and record it, with its date, in the corrections log.
- No badges or endorsements. We do not sell “verified” marks, rankings or recommendations, and we do not describe any contact with a publisher as a partnership or endorsement.
- Customers are disclosed. Anyone who pays for a service is listed below, or on request if they ask us not to publish the name.
What is paid, or being tested
| Service | For | Status |
|---|---|---|
| APC Watch: a monthly digest of changes to publisher prices and waiver rules | libraries, research offices, consortia, publishers | first issue free; paid plans being tested |
| Reports and extracts built from the open data (for example an annual APC price summary) | institutions, analysts | being tested |
| A one-off review of how a publisher’s APC and waiver data appear across public sources | publishers | on request; the findings are not published on JournalFees |
| Budget review of an institution’s APC spending | universities, funders | on request |
| Journal indexation audits by ScholarForensics, which is run by the same team as JournalFees | journal editors and publishers | separate service; it does not change anything on JournalFees |
What we never sell
- Placement, ranking or a favourable description on JournalFees.
- Removal or softening of a finding.
- Early or exclusive access to the open data.
- Any mark that suggests a publisher or journal has been approved by us.
Customers and other income
As of 21 October 2026: no paying customers, no advertising, no affiliate links, no sponsorship.
We may apply for grants from funders of open research. Any grant will be listed here with the funder’s name; a grant does not give the funder influence over what we publish.
If you think we broke these rules
Write to hello@journalfees.com. We will answer in writing and record the outcome in the corrections log.