Fees

We have different fees for different kinds of accounts. These include annual membership fees and content registration fees for members, optional member fees for the Similarity Check service, and annual subscription fees for some metadata services.

Our Membership and Fees Committee regularly reviews our fees and makes recommendations to our Board. In July 2019 our board voted to approve our fee principles. We haven’t increased the regular annual membership or content registration fees in over 18 years.

Member fees

If you want to get a Crossref DOI prefix for your organization so you can create unique and persistent links and distribute metadata through us, you’ll need to become a member. Most members pay an annual fee at the beginning of each calendar year plus a one-time fee for each content item registered. There are also fees for the optional Similarity Check service.

Annual membership fees

If you are a member through a sponsor, your sponsor will pay membership fees on your behalf (but they may also charge you for their services - more here).

If you are eligible for the GEM programme, you will not pay annual membership fees - more here.

All other members pay an annual membership fee to Crossref. There are different membership fee tiers depending on whether you will be registering published content with us, or whether you are a funder and will be registering grants. These fees are tiered, depending on your publishing revenues or expenses, or the value of the grants that you award.

(IMPORTANT: your membership fee gives you access to our services, but DOES NOT include content registration. There are separate content registration fees payable.)

Annual membership fee tiers (for organizations registering published content)

Our membership fees for organizations who will be registering published research outputs are tiered depending on the publishing revenue or expenses of your organization. Please select your tier from the table below, and use the higher number of either:

  1. Total annual publishing revenue from all the divisions of your organization (the member is considered to be the largest legal entity) for all types of activities (advertising, sales, subscriptions, databases, article charges, membership dues, etc). Or, if no publishing revenue then:
  2. Total annual publishing operations expenses including (but not limited to) staff costs, hosting, outsourcing, consulting, typesetting, etc.
Total publishing revenue or expensesAnnual membership fee
<USD 1 millionUSD 275
USD 1 million - USD 5 millionUSD 550
USD 5 million - USD 10 millionUSD 1,650
USD 10 million - USD 25 millionUSD 3,900
USD 25 million - USD 50 millionUSD 8,300
USD 50 million - USD 100 millionUSD 14,000
USD 100 million - USD 200 millionUSD 22,000
USD 200 million - USD 500 millionUSD 33,000
>USD 500 millionUSD 50,000

Annual membership fees (for funders who will be registering grants)

Since 2019, funders are able to register DOIs for the research grants they have awarded. Their annual membership fees are lower than for all other members, but their grant registration fees are higher. Funder fees are tiered depending on your annual award value.

Total annual award value (USD)Annual membership fee
< 500kUSD 200
0.5-2 millionUSD 400
2.1-10 millionUSD 600
10.1-500 millionUSD 800
500.1 million - 1 billionUSD 1,000
> 1 billionUSD 1,200

Content Registration fees

Content Registration (metadata deposit) fees are one-time fees for the initial registration of content with us. There are no fees for updating the metadata for registered content. These fees are usually billed quarterly in arrears. There are different fees for different record/resource types and some fees are different depending on the date of the resource. Some record types have volume discounts available.

If you are a member through a sponsor, your sponsor will pay registration fees on your behalf (but they may also charge you for their services - more here).

If you are eligible for the GEM program, you will not pay registration fees - more here.

Content registration fees by record type

Record typeRegistration fee per current recordRegistration fee per backfile recordVolume discounts?
Journal articles, book titles, conference proceedings and conference papers, technical reports and working papers, theses and dissertationsUSD 1.00USD 0.15No
Peer Reviews (registered by the title owner)USD 0.25USD 0.25Yes - see more
Peer Reviews (registered by not the title owner)USD 1.00USD 1.00Yes - see more
GrantsUSD 2.00USD 0.30No
PreprintsUSD 0.25USD 0.15Yes - see more
Book ChaptersUSD 0.25USD 0.15Yes - see more
StandardsUSD 0.15USD 0.15No
Databases and datasetsUSD 0.06USD 0.06Yes - see more
ComponentsUSD 0.06USD 0.06Yes - see more

*Note: “Current” includes the current calendar year + the previous two calendar years, and “Backfile” is anything older than that. So for records registered with Crossref in 2023, current is anything registered with publication/award dates of 2023, 2022 or 2021. Backfile is anything registered with publication/award dates of 2020 or before. For records registered with Crossref in 2024, current is anything registered with publication/award dates of 2024, 2023 or 2022. Backfile is anything registered with publication/award dates of 2021 or before.


Volume discounts: peer reviews

If you register multiple peer reviews for the same article, then volume discounts apply. The prices and discounts are different depending on whether you are the publisher of the article being reviewed. Volume discounts don’t apply across reviews for different articles.

Registered by the title publisher

Total number of registered DOIs per articleRegistration fee per record (current and backfile)
First peer review against single articleUSD 0.25
Second and all further peer reviews against same articleUSD 0.00

Registered by an organization who is not the publisher of the title being reviewed

Total number of registered DOIs per articleRegistration fee per record (current and backfile)
First peer review against single articleUSD 1.00
Second peer review against same articleUSD 0.25
Third and all further peer review against same articleUSD 0.00

Volume discounts: preprints and other posted content

Total number of registered DOIs per quarterRegistration fee per record (current)Registration fee per record (backfile)
0-1000USD 0.25USD 0.15
1,001 - 10,000USD 0.25USD 0.12
10,001 - 100,000USD 0.25USD 0.06
100,001 and upUSD 0.25USD 0.02

Volume discounts: book chapters and reference entries for a single title

If you’re depositing a lot of chapters or reference works for the same title in the same quarter year, the following discounts apply:

Total number of registered DOIs per title per quarterRegistration fee per record (current)Registration fee per record (backfile)
0-250USD 0.25USD 0.15
251-1,000USD 0.15USD 0.15
1,001-10,000USD 0.12USD 0.12
10,001-100,000USD 0.06USD 0.06
100,001 and upUSD 0.02USD 0.02

The higher tiers are for encyclopaedias, in case you’re wondering how a single title could possibly have 100,000 chapters!

Volume discounts: datasets and components

If you’re registering a lot of components or datasets for a single title in the same quarter year, the following discounts apply. There is no difference in price between current and backfile records for datasets and components.

Total number of registered DOIs per title per quarterRegistration fee per record (current and backfile)
1-10,000USD 0.06
10,001-100,000USD 0.03
100,001-1,000,000USD 0.02
1,000,001-10,000,000USD 0.01
10,000,001 and upUSD 0.005

Similarity Check fees

Members are able to participate in Similarity Check. As a participant, you pay an annual service fee to use Similarity Check plus a per document charge each time you check a document. Even members who are part of the GEM Program will pay these fees.

Similarity Check annual service fee

Members of Crossref can participate in Similarity Check. The service fee is 20% of your annual membership fee and is included in your annual membership fee invoice.

Total annual revenue/expensesCrossref annual membership feeSimilarity Check annual subscription fee
<USD 1 millionUSD 275USD 55
USD 1 million - USD 5 millionUSD 550USD 110
USD 5 million - USD 10 millionUSD 1,650USD 330
USD 10 million - USD 25 millionUSD 3,900USD 780
USD 25 million - USD 50 millionUSD 8,300USD 1,660
USD 50 million - USD 100 millionUSD 14,000USD 2,800
USD 100 million - USD 200 millionUSD 22,000USD 4,400
USD 200 million - USD 500 millionUSD 33,000USD 6,600
>USD 500 millionUSD 50,000USD 10,000

Similarity Check per-document fees

Each document run through Similarity Check is charged at a per-document-checking fee, and there are volume discounts. There is a separate invoice for Similarity Check document checking fees. This invoice is sent annually in January for the previous years’ usage.

Number of documents checked per yearPrice per document up to 25,000 words
1 - 100USD 0.00
101 - 2,000USD 0.75
2,001 - 25,000USD 0.65
25,001 - 50,000USD 0.55
50,001 - 100,000USD 0.45
100,001 - 200,000USD 0.30
>200,001USD 0.25

Metadata Plus subscriber fees

If you want to get and use our metadata, you don’t need to be a member. We have a free public REST API that you can use without contacting us. Metadata Plus is a dedicated pool of servers and is a good option if you want a more predictable service level than we can support with the free API, and it comes with monthly snapshots of XML or JSON data dumps for you to do more flexible and customised analyses. There is an annual subscription fee which is payable each January or wll be pro-rated for the remainder of the calendar year.

Please select your tier from the table below, using the following criteria:

The fee tier is selected based on whichever is the higher between

  • your total annual revenue (including earned and fundraised, e.g. grants); or
  • your annual operating expenses (including staff and non-staff, e.g. occupancy, equipment, licenses etc.).

The subscriber is always considered to be the largest legal entity, unless:

  • you are a university, then the subscriber is considered to be the university department(s), school(s), or faculty(ies) that is using the service e.g. Department of Earth Sciences, School of Law, or Faculty of Medicine.
  • you are a government body, then the subscriber is considered to be the agency(ies), department(s), or ministry(ies) that is using the service, e.g. Agence de l’Innovation Industrielle, Department of Energy, or Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
Total annual revenue/funding or operating expensesAnnual fee
< USD 500,000USD 550
USD 500,001-USD 999,999USD 2,200
USD 1 - 5 millionUSD 3,300
USD 5,000,001-USD 9,999,999USD 11,000
USD 10 million-USD 25 millionUSD 16,500
> USD 25 millionUSD 44,000

If you’re an organization who works on behalf of groups of smaller organizations that want to register content with Crossref, you’ll be set up as a Sponsor. Sponsors work directly with us in order to provide administrative, technical and—if applicable—language support to the communities they work with.

The annual membership fee you pay as a Sponsor is based on the total annual publications revenue, income or funding of all the organizations you support, whichever is higher.

Total annual revenue or income or fundingAnnual fee
<USD 1 million USDUSD 275
USD 1 million - USD 5 millionUSD 550
USD 5 million - USD 10 millionUSD 1,650
USD 10 million - USD 25 millionUSD 3,900
USD 25 million - USD 50 millionUSD 8,300
USD 50 million - USD 100 millionUSD 14,000
USD 100 million - USD 200 millionUSD 22,000
USD 200 million - USD 500 millionUSD 33,000
>USD 500 millionUSD 50,000

Each quarter you will also be sent an invoice for any content items that have been registered by the organizations that you sponsor. The charges are listed by each organization’s prefix on the invoice. There are different fees for different record types and the fees are also different depending on the publication date of the content. You will be asked to recategorize your annual fee at the end of every year, as the number of sponsoring members you represent grows.


How to pay us and other FAQs

There’s more information about how to pay us, when you’ll be billed and other billing FAQs here.

Do contact our member support team if you have any further questions.


Page owner: Amanda Bartell   |   Last updated 2023-August-16