Journal of Family Medicine · ISSN 2640-690X
Membership
Membership of Open Access Pub is an optional, prepaid arrangement. It settles the article processing charge for an agreed number of accepted manuscripts and adds a small set of author services. It is a way of paying, and nothing more.
Membership has no bearing on peer review or on any editorial decision. What membership covers is set out below; what the charge would otherwise be is on the fee page.
How it works
Prepaid article credits
A member pays in advance for a fixed term. During that term the article processing charge is settled by the membership for a stated number of accepted manuscripts. An author may submit any number of manuscripts; the credits apply to those that are accepted, in the order they are accepted, until the stated number is used.
Membership runs from the date of subscription for the number of years subscribed, date to date.
- Who it is for
- An individual membership is used by an author or co-author of the manuscript concerned. An institutional membership is used by authors of the subscribing institution, at least one of whom must give that institution as an affiliation, with written confirmation from the institution that the manuscript belongs to it.
- Which journals
- Membership may be used at any Open Access Pub journal, including this one.
- What it settles
- The article processing charge on accepted manuscripts, up to the number stated for the plan Special issues are outside the individual allowance; a 30% reduction applies to the special-issue charge instead.
- Unused credits
- Credits are used within the term An unused allowance does not extend the term. Where a membership is renewed before it expires, the publisher carries remaining credits forward as a courtesy; renewal after expiry does not.
- What it does not affect
- Peer review, handling and the editorial decision Membership confers no advantage in the review or acceptance of a member’s own manuscripts, and no reduction in the time any manuscript takes.
Plans
Terms and amounts
Amounts are in United States dollars and are the publisher’s current published rates. Industrial and company memberships start at USD 5,000 and are arranged individually.
Individual
| Term | Amount | Accepted manuscripts covered |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | USD 6,300 | 5 per year, excluding special issues |
| 2 years | USD 8,100 | 5 per year, excluding special issues |
Institutional
| Term | Amount | Accepted manuscripts covered | Add-on |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | USD 9,500 | 20 over the year, multiple authors, all journals | USD 500 to include a second institution |
| 2 years | USD 11,500 | 30 over the two years, multiple authors, all journals | USD 500 to include a second institution |
Included services
What else membership includes
- Language editing. An optional editing service that improves grammar, clarity and style; scientific content is not changed. It is independent of the editorial process and does not affect the review outcome or decision.
- Similarity reports. A report from a standard similarity-checking platform for up to ten documents of the member’s choice, before submission.
- Membership certificate. Issued on subscription.
- Conference offers. Discounts from publisher partners, subject to availability and to each partner’s own terms.
Applying
How to arrange it
Write to the membership office with your full name, affiliation and address, the journal you are interested in, and the plan you want. The office confirms the terms and arranges payment.
Membership inquiries: [email protected]. Longer terms, company memberships and anything not listed above are arranged individually through the same address.
Deciding whether it is worth it
Membership is worth considering where a group expects several accepted articles within the term. For a single manuscript the ordinary article processing charge is the simpler route, and an author who expects difficulty meeting it should write to the editorial office rather than take a membership for that reason.
Independence
Membership and the editorial decision
Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal, and remain independent of fees, memberships, optional services, and editorial or reviewer roles.
Every manuscript is handled the same way regardless of how its charge is settled: single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Membership buys no reading of a manuscript before submission, no place in a queue and no editorial standing.