Publishers
Publisher waiver policies, side by side
52 publishers, 7 classification systems, eight different rules about which author counts. The differences are not cosmetic: they decide whether you pay nothing, half, or everything.
All policies checked 29 September 2026; 23 re-read and CSIRO and PNAS added on 14 October 2026; 14 more added on 21 October 2026
48policies recorded
8rules about which author counts
2state waivers cover hybrid journals
7classification systems
12 rules authors miss — Elsevier’s 50% rule, first-author and all-corresponding-author rules, Optica and Ukraine, hybrid exceptions. Each dated, each sourced.
The policies
| Publisher | Which author counts | Hybrid | Applied |
|---|---|---|---|
| ElsevierResearch4Life | All authors must be in the same group | No | Automatic |
| WileyResearch4Life | Corresponding author only, using the affiliation given at submission | No | Automatic |
| Taylor & FrancisWorld Bank income class plus a GDP ceiling | Corresponding author's primary affiliation | No | Request required |
| Springer NatureWorld Bank income class plus a GDP ceiling | Corresponding author | Not stated | Request required |
| SageResearch4Life; some journals use World Bank income levels instead | Corresponding author | No | Automatic |
| IOP PublishingWorld Bank income class | Automatic when all authors are in an eligible country | Yes | Automatic or on request |
| PLOSResearch4Life | Institution, not the individual author | Not stated | Automatic through the Global Equity agreement |
| Oxford University PressResearch4Life, EIFL and government affordability metrics | Corresponding author | No | Automatic |
| IEEEWorld Bank GNI per capita | All authors must qualify | No | Automatic |
| MDPIMDPI internal classification, described as broadly aligned with Research4Life | Corresponding author, assessed individually | Not stated | Request required |
| PeerJWorld Bank income classification | Submitting author for a single waiver; if every co-author is from a low-income economy, the requirement is waived for all of them and publication is free | Not stated | Request required |
| Cambridge University PressResearch4Life | Corresponding author of research articles | Not stated | Automatic, plus a discretionary route on request |
| BMJBMJ's own waiver list, built on low-income economies | The strictest set of conditions found | Not stated | Request required |
| ACMACM agreements with EIFL and Research4Life, plus the World Bank list of economies | Author location; ACM Open institutional licences are applied first | Not stated | Automatic for geographic waivers; discretionary route on request |
| BMCWorld Bank income classification, through Springer Nature | Corresponding author | No | Automatic for the country route; request required for the discretionary route |
| American Physical SocietyResearch4Life (Group A full, lower-middle reduced) | Corresponding author at an eligible institution | Yes — hybrid + gold Physical Review | Automatic; no waiver request since 1 Jan 2024 |
| American Chemical SocietyWorld Bank income class (July 2022 snapshot), Group A / Group B | Submitting corresponding author only | No — fully OA titles only | Automatic on acceptance |
| AIP PublishingResearch4Life guidelines extended with World Bank low + lower-middle income | Corresponding author's country | No — Gold OA titles | Automatic at billing; others case-by-case on request |
| Optica Publishing GroupOwn list of qualifying low-income countries, plus Ukraine through 2026; Optics Continuum uses low + middle income | Corresponding author only; requires an accurate address on file | Not stated | Automatic |
| FrontiersNo country list; authors in World Bank low and lower-middle income countries may apply for APC discounts, plus institutional agreements | Not stated | n/a (fully OA) | Request required (fee support form) |
| Copernicus PublicationsResearch4Life plus European Economically Disadvantaged (EED) — a distinct classification system | Corresponding author's institution | n/a (fully OA) | Fully automated: 100% R4L, 50% EED on 20+ titles |
| The Royal Society✓ repliedOwn "Open Access Equity" list, 100+ countries including Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia | Corresponding author | No hybrid since 2026 (Subscribe to Open, no APC) | Automatic, plus a discretionary need-based route |
| Microbiology Society✓ repliedHINARI Group A (100%), Group B (50%) and EIFL agreement, 33 countries (100%) | Corresponding author | Yes — whole portfolio, hybrid and fully OA | Automatic for HINARI Group A/B and EIFL countries; 30% member discount; partial waiver otherwise on request at submission |
| De Gruyter BrillWorld Bank income class — 80%/30%, not 100%/50%; Brill side runs on EIFL partner countries | Corresponding author | Yes on the Brill/EIFL route; not stated for the De Gruyter country discount | Automatic on acceptance by country of residence |
| JMIR PublicationsWorld Bank income class, aligned to Plan S guidance | All authors must be in a low-income economy for a full waiver; all in lower-middle for a discount | n/a (fully OA) | Request required (form) |
| KargerCountry income, low and lower-middle | Not stated | No — explicitly no waivers for Author's Choice hybrid OA | Request required, after acceptance |
| ThiemeResearch4Life Group A 100%, Group B 50% | Corresponding author | No — Gold OA only | Request required; eligibility indicated at the payment stage after acceptance |
| American Society for MicrobiologyResearch4Life Group A | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic for R4L Group A; other need-based requests at acceptance |
| Mary Ann LiebertResearch4Life Group B, 50% discount; World Bank lower-middle prioritised for others | Corresponding author | No — gold OA journals | Request required, case-by-case |
| Portland Press (Biochemical Society)Research4Life / HINARI Group A full, Group B discount | Not stated | Not stated | Automatic at the payment screen: Group A full, Group B discount; individual circumstances by request |
| Emerald PublishingWorld Bank low + lower-middle income; Research4Life list for ICE Publishing titles | Corresponding author's country | No — fully OA titles only | Automatic at submission |
| Wolters Kluwer (Lippincott)Research4Life eligibility criteria | Corresponding author at participating institution | Not stated | Institutional R&P agreements only; no standalone country-based waiver published |
| AACRWorld Bank low + lower-middle income | Not stated | Yes — AACR journals are hybrid with an OA option | Geographic full or partial; hardship waivers case-by-case |
| eLifeNo country list — case-by-case on financial need; LMIC authors typically covered | Corresponding author provides the explanation | n/a (fully OA) | Request required |
| Pensoft✓ repliedLow + middle income, plus PhD students, retired and independent researchers — set per journal, not centrally | Not stated centrally | n/a (fully OA) | Request required, varies by journal |
| Royal Society of ChemistryResearch4Life (automatic waiver) | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic under Research4Life; other waivers case by case; RSC member discount 15%; 50% discount for authors in India, Indonesia and the Philippines |
| Company of BiologistsWorld Bank low and lower-middle income (automatic, corresponding author) and EIFL countries; hardship waiver on request | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic for eligible countries, no application; hardship waiver requested on acceptance |
| Bristol University PressResearch4Life alignment | First author's country | Not stated | Not stated |
| EDP SciencesResearch4Life Group A waiver; 20% discount for CAS institutes and TIB-affiliated German institutions; French institutions via transformative agreement | Not stated | Not stated | Research4Life Group A waiver; institutional discounts and agreements |
| Rockefeller University PressLow- or middle-income countries (World Bank tiers, not further specified on the source page) | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic |
| American Meteorological SocietyIndividual financial hardship — no country list or income classification used | Submitting/corresponding author, case by case | Not stated | Request required, decided within days (partial) or up to 3 months (full) |
| F1000ResearchWorld Bank income classification | Submitting/corresponding author's institutional affiliation | n/a (fully OA) | Not specified as automatic or on request |
| IWA PublishingResearch4Life-aligned developing-country list | Corresponding author, based on country entered in Editorial Manager | Not stated | Automatic, provided country is entered correctly at submission |
| CSIRO PublishingResearch4Life | Corresponding author, country of primary affiliation | Not stated | Group A 100%, Group B 50%, for 22 named journals only |
| PNASNo country list; authors without funding | Not stated | Not stated | Request required |
| Académie des sciences (Comptes Rendus)Diamond open access — no fee to waive | n/a | n/a (diamond) | No fee for any author |
| Peer Community JournalDiamond open access — no fee to waive | n/a | n/a (diamond) | No fee for any author |
| PAGEPressCase by case publisher-wide; UN Least Developed Countries at European Journal of Histochemistry | Corresponding author (member rates) | Not stated | EJH: request after acceptance |
| Verduci EditoreUN Least Developed Countries — discount on request | Not stated | n/a (fully OA) | Request in the cover letter at first submission |
| Mattioli 1885World Bank low-income (EUR 250); young researchers exempt — Acta Biomedica | Not stated | n/a (fully OA) | Request before submission |
| Institute of Experimental Botany CASFinancial need, case by case (Biologia Plantarum) | Not stated | n/a (fully OA) | Request at submission with proof of no funding |
| Biology Centre CASNo waiver or discount (verified absence) | n/a | n/a (fully OA) | No waiver |
| Institute of Physiology CASNo waiver or discount (verified absence) | n/a | n/a (fully OA) | No waiver |
| Czech Academy of Agricultural SciencesNo waiver or discount (verified absence) | n/a | n/a (fully OA) | No waiver; EUR 565 handling fee on 10 of 11 journals |
Eight rules about which author counts
| Rule | Publishers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Corresponding author onlyThe affiliation given for the corresponding author at submission decides it. Co-authors elsewhere do not affect the outcome. | Wiley, Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, Sage, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, MDPI | ||
| All authors, same groupEvery author must sit in the same Research4Life group. A mix of Group A and Group B authors reduces a full waiver to 50%. | Elsevier | ||
| All authors, or most on requestApplied automatically when all authors qualify. Granted on request when the corresponding author and a majority of co-authors qualify. | IOP Publishing | ||
| All authors, lowest tier wins, one failure voids itIf entitlements differ between authors, the smallest applies. A single author in an ineligible country removes the discount entirely. | IEEE | ||
| Institution, not the authorThe institution holds the agreement. Researchers at a covered institution are never charged. | PLOS | ||
| All authors, plus where the research was done, plus funding statusEvery author must be in a listed country, the research must have been carried out in one, and it must be unfunded. | BMJ | ||
| All authors, same group — including for the discountEvery author must be in the same income bracket. Unlike Elsevier, JMIR applies this rule to the partial discount as well, not only the full waiver. | JMIR Publications | ||
| Career stage, not just geographyPhD students, retired researchers, and independent researchers qualify regardless of country — a category unique to this publisher. | Pensoft | ||
| Pan African Medical JournalAfrican Union membership plus World Bank 2021 income tiers — a three-tier price scale, not a classic waiver | Not stated which author's country decides the tier | Not stated | Discount automatic via tiered pricing; further waiver on request, rarely granted |
| AOSISNo standard classification — decided per journal; most titles publish no waiver policy at all | Not applicable on no-waiver titles; corresponding author with institutional backing where allowed | Not stated | No waiver on most titles; exceptional-circumstances request on others |
| South African Medical Association (SAMJ)No published classification — no waiver policy exists | n/a | Not stated | No waiver or discount process published |
This is the single most consequential difference between publishers, and the one authors are least likely to check before choosing where to submit. Full answer.
Known policies not yet recorded
These publishers appear in Research4Life's index of APC waiver policies. We have the address but have not yet verified the terms, so we link rather than summarise.
British Institute of Radiologypolicy published, terms not yet recordedCSIRO Publishingpolicy published, terms not yet recordedCCSDpolicy published, terms not yet recorded
Source: Research4Life — Open Access titles with zero or reduced publication charges, checked 2026-08-05.
Also pending, from our own checks on 21 October 2026: John Libbey Eurotext (an open access fee exists per Sherpa Romeo; no amount published), Edizioni Minerva Medica (DOAJ only so far), Firenze University Press (fees set per journal), Biomedical Papers (DOAJ lists a fee; the journal page does not).
Check your country
Do you qualify for a fee waiver or discount? Enter your country to see which publishers offer reduced APCs for authors at your institution.
WAIVERS BY COUNTRY →