In the traditional publishing system, the funding of a scientific publication comes from public resources:
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Researchers (authors) are primarily paid through public funds.
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The peer review process is carried out by other researchers, who are usually not compensated by publishers or scientific journals.
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Libraries are required to pay subscriptions to scientific journals or purchase books from publishers in order to provide access to their members.
In the Open Access (OA) model, the “author-pays model” is often applied:
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Authors are asked to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) or Book Processing Charges (BPCs) in order to publish their work.
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Many academic institutions cover these costs for their members, either through consortia or through internal funding mechanisms.
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Nevertheless, the majority of open access journals do not impose charges on either readers or authors, as they are funded by professional associations, academic institutions, or rely on volunteer work.