IEEE — publication fee waivers
The strictest attribution rule of any publisher checked. One co-author in a high-income country removes the discount entirely — not reduces it. Discount tiers are set by GNI per capita from the World Bank lending groups and are reviewed annually.
Policy checked 1 August 2026
The policy in full
| Classification used | World Bank GNI per capita |
|---|---|
| Full waiver | Low-income countries — 100% |
| Partial discount | Lower-middle-income — 25% to 50%, graduated by country |
| Which author counts | All authors must qualify. If authors sit in countries with different entitlements, the lowest of those discounts is applied to the whole paper. If any single author is in a country that is not eligible, no discount is given at all. |
| Hybrid journals | Not covered |
| How it is applied | Automatic |
| When | Applies to papers submitted from 2024 onward; subject to acceptance |
| Scope | All IEEE gold open access journals |
List prices (APC)
| Fully open access journals (most) and IEEE Access | $2,160 |
|---|---|
| Hybrid journals | $2,800 |
| Open access magazines (most) | $2,995 |
| Member discounts | 20% society members, 5% IEEE members; not for students |
2026 prices; some titles are exceptions. Source: IEEE Open — article processing charges, checked 16 September 2026. IEEE Access fee page.
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.
Source
Related
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