Evolution of article processing charges in medicine: disciplinary position, access gaps and future prospects
Medicine occupies a singular position in the open access economy: It is the field with the highest number of OA journals with APCs in DOAJ, the second largest by global APC expenditure with high rates of APC adoption among researchers in the Global South. This article analyses APC trajectories in medicine from a comparative disciplinary perspective, drawing together evidence from multiple studies to position medicine in relation to other scientific fields over the period 2009-2023. It documents price gaps between medical and biomedical subcategories, the particularly acute affordability challenges associated with publishing in global health journals and the structural asymmetry between the public urgency of medical knowledge and the cost of its dissemination. The article concludes with a reflection on alternative models and the conditions required for an equitable and sustainable open access transition in medicine.