Open Exploration is an academic publisher of open access, peer-reviewed online journals, registered in New York, USA (business address is located in Xi'an China). Invested by Wanleibio (a well-developed Chinese company), Open Exploration is operated by an independent team of professionals and has no common business with Wanleibio. With the support of expert editors, authors and reviewers, Open Exploration produces trusted content, spreads significant works and facilitates open exchange of insight and information in scientific fields.

To facilitate scientific and technological advance by disseminating high-quality content rapidly, widely and freely.

Open Exploration officially began to publish articles in February 2020, and so far there are 14 journals covering multiple fields, such as integrative medicine, oncology, immunology, neurology, digestive diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, asthma & allergy, pharmacology, food omics, biomaterials, digital health, cardiology, endocrinology, etc. By the end of August 2023, 1 journal has been indexed in PubMed/PMC, 3 indexed in Scopus, 6 indexed in DOAJ, and 2 COPE Member journals. More detailed information can be found at All Journals.

Open Exploration journals publishes articles under the model of Gold Open Access. Once published, articles are immediately available for free without restrictions. The journal charges article processing charge (APC) to cover the costs of peer review, editing, typesetting, archiving, journal management, etc. incurred in the process of processing articles, in order to maintain a sustainable open access academic publishing and exchange platform in the long run.

APC fees are only for accepted articles that have been peer-reviewed.

Open Exploration journals do not charge APC within the exemption period from authors, which is the first five years since launched, during which time the APC is wholly financed by Open Exploration. After the exemption period, journals charge an APC fee of $2,000 per article (excluding tax). Exemption period varies by journal, and please check the details in the table below. 

Waivers and Discounts

We encourage authors to publish on Open Exploration journals and do not want APC fees to be a barrier to scientific publication, especially for authors from low- and middle-income countries. We offer a range of discounts or waivers for authors from low- and middle-income countries. For authors who are otherwise unable to pay the APC fee, we will waive or discount on a case-by-case basis. Authors can contact the Editorial Office at the time of submission to explain the situation and apply for a discount.

If the author is a member of the journal's cooperated association, a 20% discount is available.

Specific discount details and how to apply will be updated on each journal's website before the exemption period ends.

Rewards and Benefits for Contributing Authors

Authors who submit article(s) within the exemption period of journals and the article(s) are eventually accepted for publication will receive a 50% discount on the APC, which will cover part of the APC for publishing an article after the exemption period of journals.

Authors who submit article(s) during the exemption period of journals and the article(s) being recognized as the annual Highly Cited Paper Award will receive a full APC waiver once, which will be able to enjoy free publication for one article after the exemption period of journals.

Crossref

As a member of CrossRef, Open Exploration utilizes Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) in bibliographic data to facilitate unique and persistent identification of published materials. Journal article citations contain reference links to source material located on the World Wide Web, where appropriate.

Publons

Publons allows researchers to gain recognition for their peer review contributions.

Portico

Portico is a community-supported preservation archive that safeguards access to e-journals, e-books, and digital collections. All published articles will be archived on the Portico platform to ensure long-term digital preservation.

Ithenticate

Open Exploration uses iThenticate to screen submitted content for originality before publication. iThenticate checks submissions against millions of published research papers, and billions of pieces of web content. Concerns raised by analysis using  the software will be addressed in follow-up investigations in line with COPE guidelines.

Crossmark

Crossmark is a multi-publisher initiative from Crossref which provides a standard way for readers to locate the current version of a piece of content. By applying the Crossmark logo, Open Exploration is committing to maintaining the content it publishes, and to alerting readers to changes if and when they occur.

ORCID

As a member of ORCID, Open Exploration uses a persistent identifier (ORCID iD), that distinguishes researchers through a mechanism for linking their research results, so as to solve the problem of systematic researcher name confusion in academic literature, and can improve the process of scientific discovery and increase the efficiency of funding and cooperation.

STM

STM is committed to ensuring that the great discoveries of our time are communicated with pinpoint accuracy, clarity and integrity. As a member of STM, Open Exploration works with it to advance research worldwide.

OASPA

OASPA is the international community for open access publishing, working to encourage and enable open access as the predominant model of communication for scholarly outputs. As a member of OASPA, Open Exploration is committed to working with it as well as all members to develop and disseminate solutions that advance open access and ensure a diverse, vibrant, and healthy open access community.

Editorial Policies

Open Exploration endorses and applies the standards and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), to ensure the rigorousness of review and publication process. The Editorial Policies apply to all Open Exploration journals.

Open Access

Open Exploration provides an immediate open access to all published content. All Open Exploration articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY) license to further facilitate open access and academic exchange among researchers. See Open Access.

Peer Review Policy

All Open Exploration journals adopt a single-blind peer review model. All accepted articles (except for some Editorials released by the Editors) have undergone a rigorous and thorough review process to evaluate their novelty, originality, scientific content and academic integrity, etc. See Peer Review Policy.

Author Instructions

Each journal provides detailed Author Instructions to aid authors in preparing their submissions. These Instructions are provided on each individual journal’s website.

Editorial Process

Detailed information of Editorial Process, including a flowchart, is provided on each individual journal’s website.

Peer Review Guidelines

Requirements and Guidelines for Reviewer are provided on each individual journal’s website.