An open dataset of article processing charges from six large scholarly publishers (2019-2023)

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive dataset of article processing charges from six major publishers over five years, enabling detailed analysis of APC trends and supporting open access research.

Contribution

The paper provides the first extensive, multi-year dataset of APCs across multiple publishers, including metadata and prices in various currencies, facilitating transparency and further research.

Findings

Dataset includes 8,712 journals and 36,618 journal-year APC data points.

Enables detailed analysis of APC trends over time and across publishers.

Supports scientometric studies and library collection planning.

Abstract

This paper introduces a dataset of article processing charges (APCs) produced from the price lists of six large scholarly publishers - Elsevier, Frontiers, PLOS, MDPI, Springer Nature and Wiley - between 2019 and 2023. APC price lists were downloaded from publisher websites each year as well as via Wayback Machine snapshots to retrieve fees per journal per year. The dataset includes journal metadata, APC collection method, and annual APC price list information in several currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, JPY, CAD) for 8,712 unique journals and 36,618 journal-year combinations. The dataset was generated to allow for more precise analysis of APCs and can support library collection development and scientometric analysis estimating APCs paid in gold and hybrid OA journals.