While accessing OA journal content is without costs to readers, OA publishing is not truly free; it takes a different approach to covering the economic costs of production where readers are not charged and barriers to access are not created. In this sense OA publishing can be compared to radio or free-to-air television: those with an interest in disseminating information pay the cost of doing so in exchange for there being no barriers to accessing this information.

Although this means that authors pay a publication processing fee, in practice fees are normally paid by the author’s employer or funder or are waived, rather than being paid out of the author’s personal funds.

This economic basis means that our OA journals are sustainable in the long-term, whereas other OA journals supported by outside bodies rather than by publication processing fees paid by authors are subject to the continued favour of outside bodies to ensure their continued existence.