Frequently Asked Questions

IET Open Access Publishing

What is open access publishing?

Open access publishing enables peer reviewed, accepted journal articles to be made freely available
online to anyone with access to the internet. Open access publishing with the IET is funded through
author publication charges. This model differs from the subscription based publishing model, whereby
readers (or more commonly readers’ institutions) pay for access to journal articles.

Which IET Journals offer an open access option?

Open access publishing is possible in all IET journals. The Journal of Engineering is fully open
access, while in the IET’s other journals, open access publication is offered as an option to authors at
article acceptance, following peer review.

Does the selection criteria for articles submitted for open access publishing within a
specific journal differ from non-open access articles within the same journal?
No, the review process and selection criteria for all articles within a given journal are the same
irrespective of whether an article will ultimately be published as ‘open access’.

With the exception of our forthcoming, fully open access journal, The Journal of Engineering, authors
are asked at acceptance whether they wish their article to be published as an ‘open access’ article.
This ensures that neither the reviewers nor the editors are aware of the author’s intentions when
assessing the article for publication.

What are the author fees for publishing an open access article in an IET journal?
Author fees are set at USD 1150 per article with no additional charges for length, inclusion of colour
or if an invoice is requested.

Credit card payments can be made in USD, GBP, EUR or YEN. For authors requesting to pay by
invoice, the fee will be charged in USD.

Discounts and waivers:

Members: IET members are entitled to a 15% discount on the fee, subject to correct entry of a valid
membership number.

Developing countries: The IET offers fee waivers for researchers in developing countries,
determined using the criteria set by Research4Life, which provides free or low-cost access to
scientific journals, books and databases for scientists, practitioners, students and faculty in the
developing world.

Other waivers: The IET will consider waiver requests due to ‘hardship’ from authors for open access
publication in all journals including The Journal of Engineering.

Under what licence does the IET publish open access articles?
Articles published as open access with IET journals are published under one of four Creative
Commons licences, Attribution CC BY, Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND, Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC and Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND. For further information see:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/.