Estimating the Financial Value of Scientific Journals and APCs using Visibility Factors: A New Methodological Approach

Authors

  • Gali Halevi SCImago Lab Granada, Spain
  • Rodrigo Sánchez-Jiménez Universidad Complutense de Madrid Facultad de Ciencias de la Documentación Santísima Trinidad, 37 28010 Madrid, Spain
  • Vicente P. Guerrero-Bote Universidad de Extremadura Facultad de Ciencias de la Documentación y la Comunicación Badajoz, Spain
  • Félix De-Moya-Anegón SCImago Lab Granada, Spain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2025.34101

Keywords:

APC, Article Processing Charge, Open Access, Journals, Journal Value Estimation, Journal Quality, Metrics, Economic Value, Journal Prestige, Impact Indicators, SJR, Scientometrics, Market Estimates, Academic Publishers, Publishing Houses, Countries, Rankings

Abstract

Not all scientific journals that offer open access publication charge the same Article Processing Charges (APC), even within the same publishing group. The hypothesis is that this variation is related to the journal's prestige and impact indicators, which reflect the value the journal provides to authors. This study examines the relationship between these indicators and proposes a method to estimate the APC that should correspond to each journal. Additionally, based on the estimated APC and the articles published over the past five years, a method is proposed to determine the value of a journal. Using these values, the relationship between the estimated APC and the published APC is analyzed, along with the distributions of estimated APCs and journal values. The average and cumulative values are also studied by publisher and by the most developed countries. Finally, a significant correlation is observed between the cumulative estimated journal values and the scientific output of countries.

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Published

2025-03-15

How to Cite

Gali Halevi, Rodrigo Sánchez-Jiménez, Vicente P. Guerrero-Bote, & Félix De-Moya-Anegón. (2025). Estimating the Financial Value of Scientific Journals and APCs using Visibility Factors: A New Methodological Approach. Profesional De La información, 34(1). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2025.34101

Issue

Vol. 34 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Research articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Profesional de la información

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