AIP Publishing has detailed the full 2024 cost of publishing a peer-reviewed article as part of its transition to a more transparent open science business model. It has integrated cost transparency into its new open science model, AIP Fusion, by outlining how it calculated its true cost per published article and why this information supports a more inclusive and equitable research environment. The organization operates as a purpose-led publisher focused on advancing the physical sciences rather than generating commercial profit, and its activities also support member societies in fields such as acoustics, physics education, rheology, materials science, and crystallography, as well as its parent organization, the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
The organization has framed transparency as a core element of open science and identified it as one of four pillars guiding its approach, along with improving access, embracing difference, and ensuring sustainability. This foundation underpins AIP Fusion and is intended to strengthen trust by clarifying what publishing entails.
The calculation of the true cost per article was based on live company data across all areas of AIP Publishing. The process involved allocating budget lines to editorial oversight, peer review, production, dissemination, technology, and partnerships to reflect the full cost of delivering trustworthy and accessible research. These figures do not represent margins but instead reflect the complete cost of producing each published article.
Some expenses required judgment in allocation because they could be placed in multiple categories or did not map cleanly onto existing models. Costs related to supporting publishing partner member societies were separated to reflect the organization’s purpose-driven role in assisting these scientific associations. Strategic functions, including executive offices, were distributed across the services they directly support to avoid overstating overhead. Efforts were made to match each budget line to its operational purpose.
The cost analysis highlights the complexity of peer review, which includes editor recruitment, training, and support, extensive reviewer outreach, investment in fair and rigorous review systems, and the management of large volumes of manuscripts that do not reach publication. Research integrity represents another rapidly growing expense, with ongoing investment in infrastructure, training, and technology designed to protect the scholarly record. When all services were combined, the total cost of publishing a single peer-reviewed article in 2024 was approximately $2,700.
This cost figure does not include margins or markups. However, covering article-level costs alone does not fulfill the organization’s mission within the broader physics community. Through AIP, the publishing program reinvests in student initiatives, community research with policy implications, historical preservation efforts, and society-led activities that extend beyond journal publishing.
AIP Fusion pricing incorporates both operational and mission-driven needs. Institutions’ publishing histories determine the baseline assessment: the average number of articles with corresponding authors from the institution over the previous three years is multiplied by $2,700 to account for peer review, dissemination, and discovery services. A shared community fee is then added based on each institution’s level of content use and downloads. This mechanism assigns responsibility proportionally across higher- and lower-usage institutions and provides the margin needed to reinvest in AIP Publishing and AIP. In the first year of AIP Fusion, no institution’s price will change by more than five percent to ensure predictability.
The model is designed to support libraries, researchers, and institutions by clarifying the value of the publishing services that uphold trustworthy science.
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