Our institutional partnership plans
We partner with over 700 institutions worldwide to make open access publishing simple, transparent, and sustainable, for your library and your researchers.
As your dedicated partner, we combine flexible payment models with the infrastructure, support, and research quality to help your institution meet its open access goals: budget control, streamlined workflows, compliance with funder mandates, and greater visibility for your researchers' work.
Built around what your institution needs
Flexible terms and payment options built from your own publishing history. No hidden fees, no mid-year surprises, and cost-sharing available across all models.
A single institutional portal gives you a 360° view of your publishing activity, financials, and impact, backed by a dedicated Account Manager.
Over 220 journals across every discipline, 146 have a Journal Impact Factor and 160 have a CiteScore.
100% gold open access, Plan S compliant, with FAIR²-certified data management support for funder mandates (NIH, UKRI, Horizon Europe, and more)
Find the right payment plan for you
Not all partner institutions have the same financial resources or funding structures. Our payment models accommodate these differences by allowing you to choose the funding approach that aligns with your financial situation and goals.
Plan | How it works | Good fit for |
|---|---|---|
Supporter membership | Institution pays an annual fee; every affiliated author gets an automatic discount on their APC. | No central OA budget, want to support authors anyway |
Direct invoicing | Pay per article as each one is approved. No commitment, full control over what you fund. | Low or occasional publishing volume |
Monthly invoicing | Same approval control as Direct, but approved articles are billed together once a month. | Prefer one predictable bill over many |
Prepayment | Deposit any amount upfront; APCs are drawn from the balance as articles are approved. Top up any time. | Want a clear spending cap, with flexibility |
Annual prepayment | One annual payment based on publishing history, with approval control kept in place. Reconciled at renewal. | Want predictable pricing but still approve each article |
Flat fee | One fixed annual payment covers unlimited publishing — no approvals, one invoices, no per-article admin. | High-volume institutions wanting the simplest author experience |
Not sure which plan fits your institution? Contact us
Our fully open flat fee model
Launched in 2023, Frontiers' flat fee model complements our well-proven metered central invoicing models offered through our institutional partnerships program.
This new approach allows for the enablement of improved open access budget planning with a single, predictable annual fee, reducing administrative work for your institution while providing unlimited open-access publication for your researchers.
More about benefits and impact >
FAIR² Data Management
FAIR² helps your institution meet tightening funder data-sharing mandates without adding to your RDM team's workload. AI-assisted curation turns weeks of data preparation into hours, producing a peer-reviewed, citable Data Article with a permanent DOI, replacing “data available upon request” with a certified, auditable record.
FAIR² Data Management is offered as a straightforward package (billed only after acceptance) covering AI-assisted curation, the peer-reviewed data article, a custom interactive portal, and lifetime hosting, so institutions can budget for it as a single line item rather than negotiating a bespoke data-management scope.
Transparent and collaborative agreements
We understand that each institution has unique needs, so we provide you with personalized support to ensure a smooth experience throughout our agreement.
Our partnerships come with an institutional portal, a dedicated Account Manager, author and editor support, and the possibility for OA Switchboard integration so you always know where your agreement stands and who to call.
If you are interested in setting up an institutional partnership and need some more information, please contact us today.
Speak with our partnerships team