How to Publish a Research Paper for Free

Paying to publish is optional. Diamond journals, subscription titles with self-archiving, and covered fees can all get your paper out without a personal bill.

Guide · 9 min read · Directive Publications Editorial Team

What "free" can mean when you publish

When people ask how to publish a research paper for free, they usually mean one of two things. Either they cannot pay a personal fee, or they want the paper to be free to read without anyone paying an article processing charge (APC). These are different goals, and the right route depends on which one matters to you.

There are four legitimate routes:

1. Diamond open access journals, which charge neither authors nor readers.
2. Subscription journals, which often charge authors nothing, combined with self-archiving of your accepted manuscript so the paper can still be read freely.
3. Fees paid by someone else, through an institutional agreement, a grant, or a waiver.
4. Preprints, which are free to post but are not peer-reviewed publications.

Each has trade-offs in speed, visibility and fit. None of them is a shortcut around peer review, and none should cost you quality.

If the open access terminology is new to you, our explainer on green, gold, diamond and hybrid open access covers the models in detail. This guide focuses on the practical question of getting published without a bill.

Route 1: Diamond open access journals

Diamond journals are open access journals that are free for both readers and authors. The 2021 OA Diamond Journals Study, which drew on survey responses from more than 1,600 journals, described them as a wide set of relatively small journals serving diverse communities, funded largely by volunteers, universities and governments rather than by author charges.

That funding model shapes what you should expect:

• Scope is often specialised or regional. Many diamond journals are run by a society, a university department or a national research community. Fit matters more than prestige.
• Language can vary. Some publish in English, some in other languages, some in both.
• Indexing varies. Some diamond titles are indexed in major databases and some are not. Check the indexing claims yourself if your institution or funder cares about them.
• Capacity can be limited. A volunteer-run journal may publish fewer issues and take longer to process submissions. Ask about timelines if speed matters.

Finding no APC journals in DOAJ

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is the most practical starting point. Its journal search has a Without fees filter. In DOAJ's own search code, that filter keeps only journals that report both no APC and no other charges, so it excludes titles that waive the APC but still charge, for example, a submission fee.

To use it well:

1. Open the journal search and apply the Without fees filter.
2. Narrow by subject, then by language if needed.
3. Open each journal's DOAJ record and follow the links to its own fee, peer review and editorial board pages.
4. Shortlist only journals whose recent articles look like yours in topic, design and article type.

DOAJ records are based on information journals supply, and fee policies change. Treat the filter as a shortlist, not a guarantee, and confirm the current position on the journal's website before you submit.

Route 2: Subscription journals plus self-archiving

In the subscription model, readers or their libraries pay for access, and authors are often not charged to publish. Publishing in a subscription journal can therefore cost you nothing, although some charge page or colour fees, so read the author guidelines.

The trade-off is that the published version sits behind a paywall. You can often fix that yourself through self-archiving (green open access): depositing a version of your paper in an institutional or subject repository.

What you may deposit depends on the publisher's policy. Jisc's Open Policy Finder, which replaced Sherpa Romeo in 2024, shows journal policies by manuscript version (submitted, accepted and published), with any embargo period and licence conditions. In practice:

• The accepted manuscript (after peer review, before the publisher's typesetting) is the version most commonly allowed.
• An embargo may apply before it can be made public.
• The published PDF is often not allowed in a repository unless the article is open access.

Your publishing agreement governs what you can do, so read it before signing. If your funder requires immediate open access, check whether that requirement and the journal's terms are compatible before you submit, not after acceptance.

Route 3: Let someone else cover the fee

Sometimes the best journal for your paper charges an APC. That does not mean you have to pay it personally.

Institutional agreements

Many libraries hold agreements with publishers under which authors at that institution can publish open access with the charge covered or discounted. These are often called read-and-publish or transformative agreements. Eligibility rules vary: they can depend on whether you are the corresponding author, the article type, and which journals are included. Your library is the authoritative source for what applies to you.

Grants and institutional open access funds

Some research grants allow publication costs as a budget item, and some universities run open access funds. Ask your grants office early, ideally before submission, because many funds have their own eligibility conditions and approval steps.

Waivers and discounts

Many open access publishers offer waivers or discounts, for example for authors in lower-income countries or authors without funding. Terms differ widely. Directive Publications, for instance, states on its author information page that it is funded by APCs and that "fee waivers and discounts are available so that the ability to pay is never a barrier to publishing sound research."

To ask well:

• Read the journal's published waiver policy first.
• Request the waiver before you submit, in writing, and keep the reply.
• Give the facts the policy asks for, such as your country, funding status and institutional support.
• Do not assume a waiver granted for one paper applies to the next.

Our guide to APC waivers and funding language explains how waiver policies are worded and what to put in a request.

Route 4: Preprints as a free first step

A preprint makes your work public at no cost and gives it a date stamp. medRxiv, the main preprint server for health sciences, states on its submission page that there is no charge for registration or manuscript deposition.

Two cautions matter for medical authors:

• A preprint is not peer-reviewed. It does not replace journal publication for most career or funding purposes.
• Not everything is accepted. medRxiv does not take case reports, narrative reviews, hypotheses or opinion pieces, among other types.

Most journals accept submissions that have been preprinted, but policies differ. Check the target journal's preprint policy before posting, and declare the preprint when you submit.

Check every charge before you submit

"No APC" and "free" are not the same thing. The DOAJ guidance for journals lists the kinds of fees a journal may charge authors, and they go well beyond the APC. Before you submit, look for each of these on the journal's own website:

If the fee page is missing, vague, or describes charges you cannot find anywhere else, ask the journal in writing before submitting. A clear answer that no fees apply is worth saving with your submission records.

Spotting fake "free publication" offers

Invitations promising free journal publication are common in researchers' inboxes. Some are legitimate. Others offer free submission and then issue an invoice after acceptance, or come from journals with little or no real peer review.

Warning signs include:

• A promise of acceptance or a fixed, very short review time.
• A fee page that is missing, or fees that appear only after acceptance.
• A journal name that closely imitates a well-known title, or a website that does not match the one listed in DOAJ or on the publisher's site.
• Claims of indexing that you cannot confirm in the database itself.

If something feels off, run through our checklist of 12 red flags for predatory journals. A free journal that does not run real peer review costs you something more valuable than an APC: the credibility of the paper.

A step-by-step plan

1. Decide what free must cover. Is your goal to avoid a personal payment, or for the paper to be free to read on publication? The answer changes which routes count.
2. Check what is already paid for. Ask your library and grants office about publisher agreements, open access funds and grant budgets before you choose a journal.
3. Search for diamond journals. Use the DOAJ Without fees filter with your subject and shortlist journals whose scope fits your paper.
4. Consider subscription journals with self-archiving. Add well-matched subscription titles, and check in Open Policy Finder which version you may deposit and when.
5. Ask for a waiver before submitting. If your best-fit journal charges a fee, read its waiver policy and request a waiver in writing.
6. Confirm every charge in writing. Read the full fee page for submission, page, colour and other charges, and keep a dated copy.

Work through these in order and fit stays at the centre of the decision. Cost decides between good options. It should not push you towards a journal that is wrong for the paper.

Choosing between the routes

These routes combine. A common pattern is to post a preprint, submit to a diamond or subscription journal that fits, and deposit the accepted manuscript where the publisher allows it. Whichever route you take, the paper's fit with the journal and the quality of its peer review matter more to your career than what it cost to publish.