The American Physiological Society (APS) is the definitive US learned society for physiology. Founded in 1887 and headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, it publishes 16 peer-reviewed journals covering every sub-field of physiology - from the seven-journal American Journal of Physiology (AJP) series and the high-impact review titles Physiological Reviews and Physiology, to Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Neurophysiology, and the fully open-access journal Function.

APS made a major open-access move in 2026: thanks to library support, its Subscribe to Open (S2O) program made all 10 primary research journals open access for the year - without charging authors an APC. This guide covers how the portfolio is organized, what publishing actually costs, the peer-review workflow, and how to submit.

APS journals serve different kinds of papers and budgets - organ-system-specific research, broad applied work, education scholarship, and invited reviews. Use the guide below to choose the right route.

16 peer-reviewed journals, all in physiology:

• AJP series - seven organ-system research journals sharing the American Journal of Physiology heritage (first published 1898).
• Standalone research journals - Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Neurophysiology, Physiological Genomics, and Advances in Physiology Education.
• Review journals - Physiological Reviews (among the highest-cited journals in physiology) and Physiology; both are invitation-only.
• Open-access and partnered titles - Function (Gold OA), Physiological Reports (Gold OA, co-published with The Physiological Society), and Comprehensive Physiology (partnered reference-review title).

APS uses two fee models: a flat fee to publish (not an APC) on its 10 S2O research journals, and a conventional APC on Function and the hybrid review journals. Figures below are from the APS publication-fees page (checked August 2026); confirm on the current fee schedule before submitting.

Because S2O depends on annual library support, each calendar year can differ: APS announces every spring which journals have met their revenue target. Research4Life waivers apply - first or last authors in Group A countries get a 100% fee waiver, Group B a 50% discount.

• Model: single-anonymized peer review is standard across APS journals.
• Format-neutral submission: all APS primary research journals accept initial submissions in any reasonable format (Flexsubmit); formatting to journal style is only required at revision.
• Transfers: manuscripts not accepted at an APS journal can be referred to Physiological Reports with reviews attached; Journal of Neurophysiology also accepts transferred reviews through the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium.
• Turnaround: varies by journal - check the journal's own page for current editorial statistics.

1. Pick the journal. Review the APS journal profiles to match your paper's scope; the AJP series is organized by organ system.
2. Prepare your manuscript. Initial submissions are format-neutral; SciSpace templates for APS journals help you format the revision. References use the APS author-year style.
3. Get your identifiers ready. Corresponding authors need an ORCID, and APS collects the corresponding author's institutional ROR ID at submission to detect S2O eligibility automatically.
4. Submit through the APS submission portal. Each journal has its own submission site at submissions.physiology.org, linked from the journal's page. Physiological Reports submissions run through Wiley.
5. Check your OA status. If your institution participates in S2O, the system confirms open-access publishing in the Author Fees section during submission.

APS is a COPE member and follows COPE guidance on corrections, retractions, and authorship disputes. Authors must declare funding through the Open Funder Registry at submission, and the society's publishing-ethics policies cover data integrity, image manipulation, and conflicts of interest. Articles published open access use Creative Commons licenses, including CC BY.