Which publishers make waivers easiest
The publisher decides what you pay — and how hard it is to pay nothing. This ranks 32 publishers on the three things that decide whether a waiver actually reaches you: whose affiliation counts, whether hybrid journals are covered, and whether you must ask.
The scorecard
| # | Publisher | Which author counts | Hybrid | Applied | Basis | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Annual Reviews | No fee — free to all | n/a | No charge | None — Subscribe to Open (no APC for any author) | free |
| 2 | Open Library of Humanities | No fee — free to all | n/a | No charge | None — Library Partnership Subsidy (no APC) | free |
| 3 | SciELO | No fee — free to all | n/a | No charge | None — publicly funded regional infrastructure (no APC) | free |
| 4 | Rockefeller University Press | Corresponding author | Yes | Automatic | Research4Life | 6/6 |
| 5 | European Respiratory Society | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic | EIFL partner countries | 5/6 |
| 6 | IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic | Waivers and Discounts country list (Research4Life-aligned) | 5/6 |
| 7 | IWA Publishing | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic | Research4Life plus EIFL partner countries | 5/6 |
| 8 | PLOS | Institution (never the author) | Not stated | Automatic | Research4Life | 5/6 |
| 9 | PNAS (National Academy of Sciences) | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic | Own list of lower-income countries | 5/6 |
| 10 | ASBMB (Journal of Biological Chemistry) | Not clearly stated | Not stated | Automatic | Research4Life | 4/6 |
| 11 | American Society of Hematology (Blood) | Not clearly stated | Not stated | Automatic | World Bank income class (GDP per capita, FY2025) | 4/6 |
| 12 | Cambridge University Press | Corresponding author only | Not stated | Automatic or on request | Research4Life | 4/6 |
| 13 | EMBO Press | Corresponding author | Not stated | Automatic or on request | Research4Life, via the Springer Nature framework | 4/6 |
| 14 | Oxford University Press | Corresponding author only | No | Automatic | Research4Life, EIFL and government affordability metrics | 4/6 |
| 15 | Sage | Corresponding author only | No | Automatic | Research4Life; some journals use World Bank income levels instead | 4/6 |
| 16 | Wiley | Corresponding author only | No | Automatic | Research4Life | 4/6 |
| 17 | ACM | Not clearly stated | Not stated | Automatic or on request | ACM agreements with EIFL and Research4Life, plus the World Bank list of economies | 3/6 |
| 18 | African Journals Online (AJOL) | Not clearly stated | Not stated | Not stated | Hosting platform, not a fee-setting publisher | 3/6 |
| 19 | BMC | Corresponding author | No | Automatic or on request | World Bank income classification, through Springer Nature | 3/6 |
| 20 | CSIRO Publishing | Not clearly stated | Not stated | Not stated | Research4Life | 3/6 |
| 21 | IOP Publishing | All authors must qualify | Yes | Automatic or on request | World Bank income class | 3/6 |
| 22 | MDPI | Corresponding author only | Not stated | Request required | MDPI internal classification, described as broadly aligned with Research4Life | 3/6 |
| 23 | Springer Nature | Corresponding author only | Not stated | Request required | World Bank income class plus a GDP ceiling | 3/6 |
| 24 | AOSIS | Need-based, no country list | Not stated | Request required | Charge model; discretionary waiver only in exceptional circumstances | 2/6 |
| 25 | American Meteorological Society | Need-based, no country list | Not stated | Request required | Need-based, no country list | 2/6 |
| 26 | Elsevier | All authors must qualify | No | Automatic | Research4Life | 2/6 |
| 27 | IEEE | All authors must qualify | No | Automatic | World Bank GNI per capita | 2/6 |
| 28 | PeerJ | Not clearly stated | Not stated | Request required | World Bank income classification | 2/6 |
| 29 | Taylor & Francis | Corresponding author only | No | Request required | World Bank income class plus a GDP ceiling | 2/6 |
| 30 | Ubiquity Press | Need-based, no country list | Not stated | Request required | Need-based, no central country list; some journals gate on World Bank lower-middle income | 2/6 |
| 31 | American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) | Not clearly stated | No | Request required | Geographic location plus demonstrated lack of other funding — no published country list | 1/6 |
| 32 | BMJ | All authors must qualify | Not stated | Request required | BMJ's own waiver list, built on low-income economies | 1/6 |
Green is the author-friendly answer, red the one that costs you. Score is out of 6 (2 points each for corresponding-author-only, hybrid coverage, and automatic application); diamond publishers charge nothing and sit above the scale.
How we score
Which author counts (0–2)
Corresponding-author-only or institution-based scores 2 — the waiver follows one clear affiliation. "All authors must qualify" scores 0, because one co-author abroad voids it. Need-based with no country list scores 1.
Hybrid coverage (0–2)
Extending the waiver to hybrid journals scores 2. Fully-OA-only scores 0. Not stated scores 1.
Applied (0–2)
Automatic scores 2; an author who does nothing still pays nothing. "Request required" scores 0 — miss the request and you are billed in full.
For publishers
Every score here comes from your own public policy page. If your policy has changed, or we have read it wrong, send a correction — we update within days and cite the source.
