Can an Article Processing Charge Reach the Number of Impact Factor 3.825?

Abstract

Dental implants and their role continue increasing not only in oral surgery/periodontics but also in fibula jaw surgery.2 So, the critically important dental implants sections in oral and maxillofacial surgery journals are growing similar to publications focused clearly on implants. One of them is Clinical Oral Implants Research (COIR), which is a ‘hybrid’ journal (contains both, toll and open access articles)3 and official publication of the European Association for Osseointegration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.4 Being launched in December 1990 (Niklaus P. Lang is a founding editor) as quarterly journal, it continues developing nearly full last 30 years. From 1997 it increased frequency to 6 issues per year and from 2008 started circulate 12 issues per year.5, 6 SCImago Journal & Country Rank put COIR at first place among 47 journals in category “Oral Surgery.”7 According to ISI Journal Citation Reports Ranking in 2018 the journal holds fifth position among 90 publications in category “Dentistry, Oral Surgery and Medicine” and fourteenth place among 80 journals in category “Engineering, Biomedical.”4A journal`s 2018 impact factor (IF) is at a very prestigious mark and reached 3.825.4 And it`s very interesting that article processing charge (APC) in August 2019 is also very close to the number of journal`s IF, being at level of USD 3,800 (Ta b l e).8 So, in that case, such a high APC can be named as ‘price of prestige.’ There is ongoing debate among publishers about the level of APC.9, 10 And we know that some journals have APC even at the level of USD 6,000, excluding tax.11 But, can the APC can be as high as COIR has? Our opinion is yes and the example of COIR proved that. As high APC will give a publisher a wide range of possibilities: to appoint the honorary salaries for editors/reviewers, to spent more income for advertising, growing projects (journal club, podcasts, etc.) inside the journal, organizing awards with stipends for young generations of authors, thus moving the specialties forward.