Institutional Account Program

Deposit Account

Provides greater flexibility and reduced per-article administration costs. Deposit Accounts allow institutions to budget APC expenditures for a fiscal year. The institution deposits funds into an account with PLOS to facilitate APC payment throughout the year. Corresponding authors affiliated with the institution are eligible; contributing authors are not.

How it works:

• Initial deposit: The institution determines the amount to be deposited into their APC account (subject to a minimum threshold) PLOS can prorate estimates to correspond to an institution’s fiscal year/budget cycle.
• Account debited for accepted manuscripts: The deposit account is not debited until the manuscript of a corresponding author who is a member of the institution is accepted by a PLOS journal.
• Monthly statements: Regular reports are provided for institutions to track and manage APC expenditures. A monthly statement details each corresponding author’s manuscript that has been accepted for publication.
• Low balance alert: When the Deposit Account balance falls to 25% of the initial total, a low-balance alert and replenishment invoice will be sent to the institution as part of the monthly billing process. At the end of the year, any residual balances of prepaid deposits within the fiscal year will be applied toward the balance of the next fiscal year.
• Exiting the Deposit Account: Institutions choosing not to add additional money to a Deposit Account have the option to:
  • Convert to Direct Billing, or
  • Exit the Deposit Account program entirely. Participating institutions can exit the Deposit Account arrangement with a 90 days advance notice, per contract agreements. Any unused deposits will be refunded promptly to institutions, with clear accounting after 45 days to allow for final settlement.