Open Access Policy and Fees

Open Access Policy

All content is open access immediately on publication. Editorial decisions are independent of ability to pay and are based solely on scholarly merit.

Repository and self-archiving policy

Authors may deposit the preprint, the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) and the Version of Record (VoR) in any institutional or subject repository (e.g. Europe PMC) at any time (no embargo). The deposited item must include the journal citation and DOI. Where required by a repository, please link to the published version on our site.

Licence

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. This permits sharing and adaptation for any purpose, provided appropriate credit is given. The licence is displayed on the article webpage and PDF. Third-party material included in an article may have different terms, which will be indicated in the paper.

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

For authors funded by UKRI, NIHR, NIH, Wellcome, Gates and other higher-education funders, an APC of £2,000 is charged on acceptance. For all other authors, publication is currently free. From 1 March 2026, the APC will be £1,000 for full research articles (systematic reviews, narrative reviews, original research, brief research papers, protocols) and £250 for other article types. APCs cover editorial handling, peer review administration, production, hosting and archiving.

 Waivers and discounts

We offer fee waivers or reductions where the first, last and corresponding authors are all based in a low- or middle-income country (as defined by the World Bank). Authors facing financial hardship may also contact the editor to discuss support. Waiver decisions are made independently of the peer-review process.