Enhanced APCs

By most estimates, nearly three million research papers are published in scientific journals every year. In that sea of scientific output, how do you make sure that yours can be found?

Researchers and publishers need to work together to increase the impact and visibility of peer-reviewed research to help the stand-out studies truly stand out. Which is why SPIE is now offering Enhanced Article Processing Charges (APCs) to help you expand the reach for your open access journal paper.

Why science communication matters

Plain language research summaries are a powerful tool for science communication. They help to expand the audience of a research article from a small group of academic peers to the wider public—which may include future funders, collaborators, or employers.

Most university and corporate communication offices have ways to distribute notable publications from their research teams, but they don't always have the time or technical knowledge to write the summaries themselves.

So, SPIE has partnered with Impact Science to write the article summaries for you. Their team of trained science writers can parse papers in all areas of optical sciences, from applied biophotonics to electronic imaging to optical physics. They will translate your technical paper into a layperson summary of approximately 500 words, which will communicate the "who," "how," and "why it matters" to a nonexpert audience.

See some examples of research summaries written by Impact Science:

Kernel Flow: a wearable device for noninvasive optical brain imaging

Simple, accurate, and efficient: Improving the way computers recognize hand gestures

DIY radiative cooler developed to serve as a research standard

How it works

If you plan to publish your paper with open access, SPIE will send you an email detailing the fee and any relevant discounts or waivers.

Your payment of the Enhanced APC will initiate the article summary. SPIE will coordinate with Impact Science on your behalf, and you'll be given the opportunity to fact check the final summary.

Then what?

Your finalized article summary will be delivered to you. If you promptly pay the Enhanced APC after article acceptance, SPIE staff may be able to coordinate timing of your paper publication with delivery of the final article summary, though this cannot be guaranteed.

What to do with the finalized summary:

1. Send it to your PR or Communications office. They can distribute it as a press release or via other communication and publicity channels.
2. Send it to your department head, who may wish to include it in your institution's internal newsletter.
3. Send it to all of your co-authors, who can extract pieces for social media posts, with links to drive traffic to the published paper on the SPIE Digital Library.