Corresponding author
The corresponding author handles submission, correspondence with the editor, and proofs. For article processing charges this role carries a financial consequence: at most publishers, the corresponding author's institutional affiliation is what decides whether a waiver applies.
Reviewed 1 August 2026
In practice
Why the choice matters financially
If a co-author in a high-income country is listed as corresponding, a waiver can be lost even when the research and every other author sit in an eligible country. Naming the corresponding author is therefore a financial decision as well as an administrative one.
Where it is not enough
Several publishers look beyond the corresponding author. Elsevier requires all authors to be in the same Research4Life group and halves the relief for a mixed team. IEEE applies the lowest entitlement in the group and gives nothing at all if one author is in an ineligible country. BMJ additionally asks where the research was carried out and whether it was funded.
Common misconceptions
Being corresponding author is not the same as being first author, and journals do not require them to be the same person.
Changing the corresponding author after submission to obtain a waiver is not normally accepted.