Publisher

BMJ — publication fee waivers

BMJ is the only publisher checked that ties eligibility to where the research was carried out, not only to where the authors sit. It also states that where a funder has an open access mandate covering APCs, BMJ expects the charge to be paid.

Policy checked 1 August 2026

The policy in full

Classification used	BMJ's own waiver list, built on low-income economies
Full waiver	Low-income countries — 100%
Partial discount	Case by case for countries not on the list
Which author counts	The strictest set of conditions found. All authors must be located in a listed country, area or territory. The research itself must have been carried out in a listed country. And the research must be unfunded, or no funding must be available to cover publication.
Hybrid journals	Not stated
How it is applied	Request required
When	Before or during initial submission. Applications made while an article is in peer review, or after acceptance, are not considered.
Scope	All BMJ journals

Country list

This publisher states the rule but does not publish a single consolidated country list we could verify. We record the rule and link to the source rather than infer which countries it covers. If you know of a published list, tell us.