CONTENTS

1. Scope and applicability
2. Definitions
3. Current fee structure - zero-charge model
4. Scope of zero charges
5. Sustainability of the diamond open access model
6. Editorial firewall
7. Funder compliance and the Journal Checker Tool
8. Prospective waiver framework
9. Tax and invoicing
10. Transparency and annual reporting
11. Future evolution of the economic model
12. Cross-references to related policies
13. Normative references
14. Version history

 

1. SCOPE AND APPLICABILITY

1.1  This Policy governs all aspects of the financial relationship between the Journal European Gynecology and Obstetrics (EGO)  and authors who submit, revise, or publish manuscripts in it. It applies to all article types accepted for publication in the Journal's regular issues, special collections, and supplements.

1.2  This Policy applies to all submissions received on or after the date of its adoption. It supersedes any prior informal statements regarding publication costs published on the Journal's website or included in correspondence with authors.

1.3  This Policy is to be read in conjunction with the Open Access Policy, the Editorial Policy Statement, the Editorial Board Charter and the Special Issues and Guest Editors Policy. In the event of conflict, this Policy prevails on matters of fee structure and financial governance; the Open Access Policy prevails on matters of open access licensing and embargo.

1.4  This Policy is published on the Journal's official website (egojournal.eu) and is freely accessible to all prospective authors, institutions, and funders. A permanent link to this Policy is maintained on the Journal's submission system.

2. DEFINITIONS

Article Processing Charge (APC)

A fee charged to authors, their institutions, or their funders to cover the costs of publishing an article in an open access format. The Journal currently levies no APC.

Submission fee

A non-refundable fee charged to authors upon submission of a manuscript, irrespective of acceptance or rejection. The Journal currently levies no submission fee.

Page charge

A fee calculated based on the number of published pages. The Journal currently levies no page charge.

Colour charge

A fee for the reproduction of figures or images in color in the printed or online version of a journal. The Journal currently levies no color charge.

Diamond open access

A model of open access publishing in which no charges are levied on either the author side (no APC, no submission fee, no page charge) or the reader side (no subscription, no paywall). The costs of publication are borne by the Publisher and/or the supporting scientific society. Diamond open access is the model currently adopted by this Journal.

Research4Life

A partnership between major academic publishers and the United Nations that provides institutions in lower-resourced countries with free or reduced-cost access to academic content. Research4Life classifies eligible countries, areas, and territories into Group A and Group B according to its own multi-criteria eligibility framework, updated periodically at portal.research4life.org.

Editorial firewall

The organizational and procedural separation between the editorial process - including the selection, peer review, and acceptance of manuscripts - and all financial operations, including the management of publication charges, invoicing, and waiver decisions.

3. CURRENT FEE STRUCTURE - ZERO-CHARGE MODEL

3.1 General declaration

European Gynecology and Obstetrics (EGO) is published under a diamond open access model. The Journal charges no fee to authors for any stage of the submission, peer review, editorial processing, or publication of manuscripts. Specifically, no Article Processing Charge, submission fee, page charge, color charge, or surcharge of any kind is levied on authors, their institutions, or their funders.

3.2 Applicability to all article types

The zero-charge model applies uniformly to all article types published in the Journal, including but not limited to: original research articles, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, narrative reviews, case reports, editorials, letters to the editor, commentaries, opinion pieces, position papers, and data notes. No article type is subject to a differential fee structure.

3.3 No charges for special collections or supplements

No Article Processing Charge is levied on authors publishing in special collections or supplements of the Journal, consistent with Section 12.4 of the Special Issues and Guest Editors Policy (SIPP v1.2). The use of APC waivers or fee incentives as inducements for submission to special collections is expressly prohibited under the SIPP.

3.4 No charges for revision or resubmission

No fee is charged for the revision, resubmission, or re-review of manuscripts following a decision of major revision. No fee is charged if a manuscript is transferred to another journal or rejected following peer review.

3.5 No charges for supplementary materials

No fee is charged for the submission, review, or publication of supplementary materials attached to an accepted article, including data files, code repositories, multimedia content, or extended tables.

4. SCOPE OF ZERO CHARGES

4.1  The following services are provided to authors at no cost under the current economic model of the Journal:

(a)  receipt and administrative processing of submitted manuscripts;

(b)  initial editorial screening for scope, completeness, and compliance with submission requirements;

(c)  peer review coordination, including the selection and management of reviewers;

(d)  editorial decision-making and communication with authors;

(e)  copy-editing and language editing of accepted manuscripts;

(f)  typesetting, formatting, and conversion to the published version (Version of Record), including generation of PDF and HTML full-text versions;

(g)  assignment of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) via CrossRef;

(h)  deposit, dissemination, or exposure of article metadata to CrossRef and, where applicable, to DOAJ, PubMed Central, OpenAIRE, Google Scholar, and other indexing and discovery services, according to the technical requirements and eligibility criteria of each service;

(i)  deposit in long-term digital preservation systems, including PKP Private LOCKSS Network (PKP PN) and CLOCKSS;

(j)  permanent hosting of the full text and associated materials on the Journal's official website;

(k)  JATS XML production where applicable.

4.2  The above services are financed by the Publisher, Edikta S.r.l., with the institutional support of the European Society of Gynecology (ESG), as described in Section 5.

5. SUSTAINABILITY OF THE DIAMOND OPEN ACCESS MODEL

5.1 Funding model

The costs of editorial production, peer-review management, copyediting, typesetting, XML conversion, DOI registration, digital preservation, website hosting, and dissemination of European Gynecology and Obstetrics (EGO) are financed by Edikta S.r.l. (Publisher), with the institutional support of the European Society of Gynecology (ESG, CHE-253.393.638, Locarno, Switzerland), in its capacity as the scientific society that holds the editorial brand.

5.2 Basis for sustainability

The economic relationship between the Publisher and ESG is governed by a Publishing Agreement that provides for the financial sustainability of the Journal's operations without dependence on author-facing charges. This arrangement is consistent with:

(a)  the diamond open access model endorsed by the Action Plan for Diamond Open Access (Science Europe / OPERAS / SPARC Europe / LIBER, 2022);

(b)  the cOAlition S Strategy 2026-2030, which explicitly supports non-APC models as a route to full and immediate open access;

(c)  the Diamond Open Access Standard (DOAS), Version 3.0 (Consortium of the DIAMAS Project, Zenodo, 2024), which sets quality and transparency criteria for diamond open access publishing;

(d)  the DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

5.3 Independence of editorial decisions

The financial sustainability of the diamond open access model does not compromise the independence of editorial decisions. The Publisher and European Society of Gynecology guarantee that no editorial decision - including the selection, peer review, acceptance, or rejection of any manuscript - is made based on financial considerations. This guarantee is operative both under the current zero-charge model and any future fee structure introduced in accordance with Section 11.

6. EDITORIAL FIREWALL

6.1 Principle

The Journal maintains a strict editorial firewall between all editorial processes and all financial operations. No editor, associate editor, guest editor, or peer reviewer is involved in, or informed of, any matter relating to publication charges, invoicing, waiver requests, or payment status in relation to any manuscript.

6.2 Operational separation

All financial operations, to the extent they may arise in the future under an evolved economic model, shall be managed exclusively by the Publisher's administrative staff, in coordination with the managing editorial office. The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board shall not know the payment status of any manuscript at any stage of the editorial process.

6.3 Non-influence of financial status on peer review

The financial status of an author, institution, or country of affiliation does not affect editorial decisions. It shall not be considered in any editorial decision, including the assignment of peer reviewers, the weighting of peer review reports, or the final acceptance or rejection decision. This principle applies under the current zero-charge model and shall continue to apply under any future fee structure.

6.4 Compliance with COPE Core Practices

This firewall policy is consistent with the COPE Core Practices on conflicts of interest and editorial independence, and with DOAJ's requirements regarding the separation of editorial and commercial functions.

7. FUNDER COMPLIANCE AND THE JOURNAL CHECKER TOOL

7.1 Plan S and cOAlition S alignment

The Journal's diamond open-access model is designed to support compliance with Plan S and cOAlition S-aligned open-access requirements by providing immediate open access under CC BY 4.0 without author-facing publication charges. The characteristics of the Journal's model relevant to funder compliance include:

(a)  all published articles are made freely and immediately available upon publication, with no embargo period;

(b)  all articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license;

(c)  no Article Processing Charge is required from authors or their funders;

(d)  the Journal does not operate a hybrid model and does not apply a paywall to any content.

7.2 Publication-fee transparency

As the Journal does not levy any author-facing publication charges, there are no APC prices to disclose under publication-fee transparency frameworks. The Journal publicly declares its zero-charge model and may publish aggregate cost information for institutional and diamond open-access transparency.

7.3 Journal Checker Tool

Authors funded by cOAlition S organizations are encouraged to verify funder-specific compliance through the cOAlition S Journal Checker Tool (jct.coalition-s.org), using the Journal title, eISSN, their funder, and their institution. The Journal's zero-APC diamond open access model is designed to support Plan S-compliant routes to immediate open access.

7.4 Major funder alignment

The Journal's zero-APC diamond open-access model supports compliance with major funder open-access policies by providing immediate open access under CC BY 4.0, with no author-facing publication charges. Authors remain responsible for complying with funder-specific repository deposit, metadata, reporting, and acknowledgment requirements. Relevant funder policies include:

(a)  NIH Public Access Policy, NOT-OD-25-047, as revised by NOT-OD-25-101, effective 1 July 2025;

(b)  Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement, Article 17;

(c)  Wellcome Open Access Policy (effective 2025);

(d)  UKRI Open Access Policy (effective 2022, as updated).

8. PROSPECTIVE WAIVER FRAMEWORK

8.1 Current status

As the Journal currently operates under a zero-charge model, no APC waiver program is operative. All authors, regardless of institutional affiliation, country of residence, or funding status, are automatically entitled to publish without charge.

8.2 Commitment to equity

If the Journal introduces Article Processing Charges in accordance with the evolution clause set out in Section 11, the Journal commits to establishing, simultaneously with the introduction of any APC. This waiver program ensures equitable access to publication for researchers from lower-resourced countries. Such a waiver program shall:

(a)  provide automatic, full waivers for corresponding authors from countries, areas, or territories classified as Group A under the current Research4Life eligibility lists;

(b)  provide automatic, substantial waivers, normally not less than 50%, for corresponding authors from countries, areas, or territories classified as Group B under the current Research4Life eligibility lists;

(c)  provide a discretionary waiver mechanism for authors from any country who demonstrate inability to pay, on presentation of a written declaration from the author's institution or funding body confirming the absence of APC funds;

(d)  ensure that no decision on a waiver request is communicated to editors or peer reviewers involved in the assessment of the relevant manuscript;

(e)  be published on the Journal's website simultaneously with the announcement of the APC structure.

Research4Life eligibility shall be determined in accordance with the current Research4Life Group A and Group B country lists and eligibility criteria, as updated from time to time by Research4Life (portal.research4life.org).

8.3 Non-discrimination

The processing, assessment, and publication of manuscripts shall not be conditioned on, or influenced by, the grant or denial of a waiver request. All waiver decisions shall be made by the Publisher's administrative staff independently of the editorial process, consistent with the editorial firewall established in Section 6.

9. TAC AND INVOICING

9.1 Current inapplicability

As no charges are currently levied on authors, the provisions of this section are prospective. They shall apply if and when the Journal introduces an Article Processing Charge in accordance with Section 11.

9.2 VAT

All APC prices, if introduced, shall be stated exclusive of value-added tax (VAT). VAT shall be applied, where required by law, in accordance with applicable Italian and European Union tax regulations. Authors and institutions with a valid VAT identification number are required to provide it at the time of invoicing.

9.3 Currency and invoicing

If introduced, APCs shall be invoiced in Euros (EUR). The Publisher shall issue a formal fiscal invoice (fattura elettronica where required by Italian law) in compliance with applicable Italian fiscal regulations.

9.4 Payment timing

If introduced, APCs shall be invoiced only after the manuscript is finally accepted for publication. No payment shall be requested at the time of submission or during peer review. An APC invoice shall not constitute a guarantee of publication and shall be refunded in full in the event of retraction before publication for reasons attributable to the Publisher.

10. TRANSPARENCY AND ANNUAL REPORTING

10.1 Public declaration

This Policy, including the current zero-charge declaration, is publicly accessible on the Journal's official website at a permanent URL. The Policy is updated whenever the fee structure or any of its conditions changes, and the version history is maintained in Section 14.

10.2 DOAJ metadata

Upon inclusion in DOAJ, the Journal's DOAJ metadata record shall accurately reflect its zero-APC status and shall be updated within 30 days of any change to the fee structure.

10.3 Annual sustainability report

In compliance with the Diamond Open Access Standard (DOAS v3.0, Zenodo, 2024) and the recommendations of the Action Plan for Diamond Open Access, the Publisher commits to publishing an annual sustainability report that discloses, in aggregated and anonymized form:

(a)  the sources of funding for the Journal's editorial operations;

(b)  the total editorial production costs for the reporting year, expressed in aggregate;

(c)  any changes to the economic model contemplated for the following year.

The annual sustainability report is published on the Journal's website by 31 March of the year following the reporting period.

10.4 Author-facing fee change notification

In the event of any change to the author-facing fee structure, the Publisher shall update the Journal website and, where applicable, notify or update DOAJ, relevant indexing services, discovery services, funder tools, and metadata records within 30 days of the change becoming effective.

11. FUTURE EVOLUTION OF THE ECONOMIC MODEL

11.1 Evolution clause

The Publisher acknowledges that the Journal's economic model may evolve in response to changes in the publishing landscape, funding environment, or institutional arrangements. If the Journal considers introducing Article Processing Charges, submission fees, or any other author-facing charge, the following conditions shall apply:

(a)  The proposed change shall be communicated publicly with a minimum advance notice of 6 months before it enters into force, by means of a prominent announcement on the Journal's official website.

(b)  The notice shall specify: the nature, amount, and structure of the proposed charges; the article types and submission categories affected; the effective date; the waiver policy adopted simultaneously with the charges; and a statement of justification for the change.

(c)  The Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial Board, the European Society of Gynecology, DOAJ, and all active indexing services shall be notified directly within the same 6-month advance notice period.

(d)  Articles already accepted for publication at the time of the announcement shall be published under the terms in force at the time of their acceptance, free of any new charges.

(e)  Articles already published under CC BY 4.0 shall remain permanently open access under that license, irrespective of any subsequent change to the economic model.

(f)  The editorial firewall established in Section 6 shall be maintained in full under any future fee structure.

(g)  Any introduction of APC shall be accompanied simultaneously by a waiver program compliant with Section 8.2.

11.2 Adoption of a revised APCP

Any material change to the fee structure shall require the adoption of a revised version of this Policy before it enters into force. The revised Policy shall be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief for endorsement and shall be filed under a new version number in accordance with Section 14.

12. CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED POLICIES

The following EGO policies contain provisions directly related to or referenced by this Policy:

Policy  Version	Relevance
Editorial Policy Statement	Sez. 20 - Primary declaration of diamond open access model and APC status.
Open Access Policy	Sez. 3, 16, 17. - Open access model, sustainability statement, evolution clause, embargo guarantee
Editorial Board Charter	Editorial independence and firewall.
Conflict of Interest Policy	Financial conflicts of interest in the editorial process.
Special Issues and Guest Editors Policy	APC prohibition in special collections
Copyright and Licensing Policy	CC BY 4.0 license terms applicable to all published articles.

13. NORMATIVE REFERENCES 
    1. DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (doaj.org).
    2. DOAJ Guide to Applying, Version 2.8, 2024.
    3. Plan S Principles and Implementation. cOAlition S, 2018 (as updated). coalition-s.org.
    4. cOAlition S Strategy 2026-2030. coalition-s.org.
    5. Action Plan for Diamond Open Access. Science Europe / OPERAS / SPARC Europe / LIBER, 2022.
    6. Consortium of the DIAMAS Project. The Diamond OA Standard (DOAS), Version 3.0. Zenodo, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12179619.
    7. Consortium of the DIAMAS Project. Diamond Open Access Standard (DOAS) Guide for Journals, Version v2. Zenodo, 2025. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15147823.
    8. Sevcusic M., Kuchma I. Best Practices Checklist for Diamond Open Access Publishers, Version 3. Zenodo, 2025. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16335507.
    9. Research4Life Country Eligibility Lists - Group A and Group B. portal.research4life.org.
    10. NIH Public Access Policy, NOT-OD-25-047, as revised by NOT-OD-25-101, effective 1 July 2025. grants.nih.gov.
    11. Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement, Article 17. ec.europa.eu.
    12. Wellcome Open Access Policy, effective 2025. wellcome.org.
    13. UKRI Open Access Policy, effective 2022 (as updated). ukri.org.
    14. COPE Core Practices. Committee on Publication Ethics, 2019 (as updated). publicationethics.org.
    15. cOAlition S Journal Checker Tool. jct.coalition-s.org.