The European Respiratory Society (ERS) is the definitive European society publisher for respiratory medicine. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, it publishes four peer-reviewed journals covering the full spectrum of lung health - from high-impact original research in the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ) to broad-scope open access in ERJ Open Research, commissioned state-of-the-art syntheses in the European Respiratory Review (ERR), and educational content for clinicians in Breathe. It also produces two wholly commissioned book series, the ERS Monographs and ERS Handbooks.

As a society (non-profit) publisher, ERS keeps its publishing operation deliberately small and specialist: every title is led by external academic editors, supported by in-house staff, and every article undergoes single-anonymised peer review. This guide covers how to choose among the four journals, what each costs to publish in, the peer-review workflow, and how to submit.

All four journals serve respiratory medicine, but they differ sharply in selectivity, cost, and article type. Use the table below to pick the right destination before you format anything.

Four peer-reviewed journals, all focused on pulmonology and respiratory medicine:

• European Respiratory Journal (ERJ) - the official scientific journal of the society, publishing cutting-edge clinical and experimental research, ERS task force reports and clinical practice guidelines, reviews, and editorials. Indexed in MEDLINE, Science Citation Index, Embase, and Scopus.
• ERJ Open Research - fully open access, covering all aspects of respiratory basic science, translational science and clinical medicine, including epidemiology, immunology, thoracic imaging, paediatric pneumology, sleep medicine, intensive care, thoracic surgery and thoracic oncology.
• European Respiratory Review (ERR) - fully open access; reviews, series, mini-reviews, editorials and correspondence on topical issues in respiratory medicine, science and surgery.
• Breathe - clinical education for respiratory professionals and trainees, including CME-linked articles; no publication fees.

Beyond journals, ERS publishes the ERS Monograph (in-depth, book-length treatments of a single topic) and the ERS Handbook series (practice-focused references) - both wholly commissioned, so contact the books team rather than submitting unsolicited manuscripts.

ERS offers Gold OA (ERJ Open Research, ERR), hybrid OA (ERJ), free publishing (Breathe), and Green self-archiving. Fees below are from the ERS price list for articles submitted from 1 April 2026 (EUR, before tax); ERS revises prices annually, so check the journal's instructions-for-authors page before submitting.

Discounts and waivers: corresponding authors from Research4Life Group A countries publish free in ERJ Open Research and ERR, Group B countries pay about half price, and ERS members get a 10-15% discount on standard prices. Authors who skip OA in the ERJ still get their article made free via the journal archive after an 18-month embargo, with repository self-archiving of the accepted manuscript permitted 12 months after publication.

Read-and-publish agreements: ERS has deals with Jisc (UK), EIFL (covering institutions in 37 countries, with free CC BY publishing for eligible authors), and a growing list of individual institutions worldwide. Eligible corresponding authors publish OA at no extra charge - check the ERS institutional open access agreements page or ask your library.

• Model: single-anonymised peer review across all four journals and both book series - reviewers know the authors' identities, but not vice versa.
• ERJ "my paper, my way": initial submissions are evaluated as submitted, without strict formatting or word-limit enforcement; reformatting happens at revision.
• Fast-track: the ERJ aims to review exceptional articles - large randomised controlled trials or work of major public-health interest - within 72 hours, with a first decision within 1 week; request it in your cover letter with justification.
• Rebuttals: ERS has a published peer-review and rebuttals procedure if you disagree with a Chief Editor's decision.

1. Pick the journal using the decision table above, and read that journal's instructions for authors on publications.ersnet.org.
2. Prepare the manuscript following the shared Article preparation guidelines for the ERS journals; references use the ERS numbered citation style. Templates are available on SciSpace.
3. Check word limits by article type - ERJ original research articles are capped at 3,000 words with a 250-word abstract (enforced at revision), reviews at 5,000 words.
4. Submit via ScholarOne Manuscripts - each journal has its own ScholarOne site (e.g., mc.manuscriptcentral.com/erj for the ERJ).
5. After acceptance, choose your OA option and licence; payment, where applicable, is handled via CCC RightsLink. ERS deposits open-access articles in PubMed Central on final publication.

ERS is a member of COPE and OASPA and maintains a published publication ethics and malpractice statement. Randomised controlled trials must be prospectively registered in a WHO-compliant registry and reported to CONSORT standards. The society has a public policy on authors' use of generative AI, requires conflict-of-interest disclosure in every submission, and follows a published corrections and retraction policy.