Scopus publication fees and APCs explained

Scopus is a database, not a publisher

You cannot submit a paper to Scopus. You submit it to a journal, and if that journal is indexed in Scopus, its articles are added to the database. Journals are suggested to Scopus by their publishers or editors and evaluated by the independent Content Selection and Advisory Board (Scopus content policy). Asked how much it costs to be indexed in Scopus, Elsevier's FAQ for content providers answers: "There is no cost to be included in Scopus" (Scopus FAQ, PDF).

So a "Scopus publication fee" is really the fee of a particular journal. The same logic applies to quartiles and to the Web of Science: a Q1 label or an SCIE listing describes the journal, not what it charges. Our guide SCI vs SCIE vs ESCI vs Scopus explains those labels.

Where journal fees come from

Elsevier describes two ways an article can be paid for: subscriptions paid by readers or institutions, or an APC paid by the author, their institution or a funding body to make the article open access to everyone. It says it never charges for the same article twice (Elsevier pricing policy).

Elsevier sets APCs per journal and says they are displayed on each journal's homepage and in its APC price list. Other publishers publish fees in a similar way. Fees differ widely, so we do not quote figures here: check the current amount on the journal's own site before you submit.

How to check a journal's real fee

1. Find the journal in Scopus Sources and follow the link to its homepage, so you know you are on the genuine site. Our guide how to check if a journal is really indexed shows how.
2. Open the journal's "open access", "publication charges" or "author guidelines" page and note every charge and when it is due.
3. For open access journals, the DOAJ listing is a useful extra signal.
4. Ask your library or research office whether an agreement or fund covers that journal before you choose it.

Ways the APC may be covered

• Institutional agreements. Elsevier says many institutions and consortia partially or fully cover APCs for their authors, often through "read and publish" agreements, and lets you explore its agreements by region (Elsevier agreements). Springer Nature says an institution's agreement may provide full APC coverage or a discount (Springer Nature agreements).
• Funders. Grants may include publishing costs; check your grant terms.
• Waivers. Elsevier automatically applies APC waivers or discounts in its gold open access journals when all author groups are based in a Research4Life-eligible country, and considers other individual requests case by case. Its waiver policy does not apply to hybrid journals (Elsevier pricing policy). Check the publisher's current country list rather than assuming.

Wherever you are based, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan, ask your university library or research office whether an agreement covers the journal.

Warning signs

• Someone asks you to pay "for Scopus indexing" of your paper. Scopus indexes whole journals after evaluation, and only a journal's publisher or editor can suggest it for Scopus.
• A fee requested by an agent rather than the journal, or invoiced to a personal account.
• A promise of acceptance, or of a very short review time, in exchange for payment. Think. Check. Submit. asks whether fees are clearly explained on the journal's site.
• Fake submission IDs or acceptance letters. Taylor & Francis warns authors about these (fraudulent submissions).

Journal fees versus our fees

Journal APCs are paid by you directly to the journal or publisher, usually after acceptance, and are separate from our service fee. For our journal submission support or manuscript editing, we give a custom quote based on word count, field and deadline after a free assessment, and we agree turnaround per quote. You can pay by Stripe, PayPal or bank transfer in USD, GBP, SAR, AED, JOD and other currencies, and itemised invoices are available on request. When we help you shortlist journals, our team of qualified researchers and subject-specialist editors with publishing experience takes your APC budget into account and checks each journal's indexing evidence; the current fee is always the one on the journal's own site. Acceptance is always decided by the journal's editors and peer reviewers.

Independence: On Time Publication is not affiliated with Elsevier/Scopus, Clarivate/Web of Science, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis or any journal or publisher named on this page. We have no office in the GCC or Jordan. We link to public guidance so you can check it yourself.

Sources and further reading

We link to official sources so you can check the rules yourself. Always follow your target journal's and institution's current instructions.

• Scopus FAQs for content providers (Elsevier, July 2025, PDF): "How much does it cost to be indexed in Scopus?"
• Scopus content policy and selection (CSAB, re-evaluation, discontinuation), Elsevier
• Pricing policy: subscriptions, APCs, waivers and no double dipping (Elsevier)
• Open access agreements with institutions (Elsevier)
• Open access agreements (Springer Nature)
• Scopus Sources (free source title search), Elsevier
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• Think. Check. Submit. journal checklist
• Fraudulent submissions and acceptances (Taylor & Francis Author Services)