LibGuides: Open Access Publishing: Open Access Fee Waivers &amp; Reductions

Sources of Funding for APCs

Funding agency supporting your project: Check with your funding agency to see if grant funds can be used to support article processing charges.
Co-authors' institutions: In most cases, the corresponding author must be affiliated with the institution with the waiver or discount agreement. Berry College authors collaborating with individuals at other institutions may be eligible for other waivers or discounts if your co-author is the corresponding author. Because corresponding authors are typically the first listed author on publications and author order has implications for credit in some disciplines, co-authors should always be deliberate in discussing author order about corresponding author status.
The journal or publisher: In some cases, there may be waivers or reduced fees for authors who simply cannot afford to pay the APC. Many publishers also offer APC credits to scholars who contribute as reviewers, or to authors who have previously published and paid APCs.
Library agreements with publishers or journals may allow Berry College authors to publisher their articles open access with a reduction or waiver of the APC.

Requesting a Discretionary Waiver

Many publishers will consider requests for discretionary APC waivers by researchers who aren’t eligible for other discount/waiver programs. Publishers may limit the journals for which they will make waivers, including restricting waivers to full open access journals (vs. hybrid journals).

Look for information on the publisher website regarding how to request a waiver. Some publishers require waiver requests at the time of submission, others not until after acceptance of a manuscript.

You will be expected to include supporting evidence for why a waiver would be necessary in your circumstances, which is most often based on ability to pay. A lack of external funding, the inclusion of undergraduate co-authors, and the fact that many publishers consider Berry a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI) are all relevant to making a case for a discretionary waiver or discount.

Your request should also include details of:

The affiliation and country of residence of all authors
Details of where the research was conducted
Confirmation of all research grant funding received

Selected Discretionary Waiver Links

ACM
Authors based outside of low income or lower middle income countries may apply for a discretionary waiver from ACM, based on financial need.
BioMed Central
BMC will consider individual waiver requests for articles on a case-by-case basis and they may be granted in cases of lack of funds. Request during the submission process.
Elsevier
We grant waivers in cases of genuine need if an author cannot afford the APC to publish gold open access in a gold open access journal, we will consider individual waiver requests on a case-by-case basis.
MDPI
MDPI waives 25%–27% of its content every year. We are committed to supporting the transition of all research to full open access, so offer APC waivers or discounts to some authors. In addition, we waive and offer discounts from 15% (of the total APCs in a journal) in our most established journals up to 100% in our new journals or humanities journals. Although we display an APC on the website, in many social sciences and humanities journals we waive between 70% and 100% of papers; we display an APC in order to demonstrate to authors that there is a cost to publication. Even some of our well established indexed journals waive 30% of publishing costs per year. Applications submitted before article submission are assessed by the Managing Editor based on the quality of the research article and the authors’ ability to pay.
Nature Communications
Discretionary APC waivers may be granted in cases of financial need. Applications should be made at the point of manuscript submission.
PLOS
PLOS Publication Fee Assistance program was created for authors unable to pay all or part of their publication fees and who can demonstrate financial need. Apply when submitting an article for publication.
Royal Society Open Science & Open Biology
The discretionary waiver is intended for authors who are able to demonstrate financial need. You must provide documentary evidence that you have explored alternative funding sources.
SAGE
If you would like your article to be published in one of SAGE’s gold open access journals, but you genuinely cannot afford the APC, the corresponding author should submit a waiver request to the journal when payment is requested, after acceptance of the manuscript.
Springer Nature
Authors who wish to publish if fully OA journals who lack funds to pay APCs may request a discretionary waiver. Make applications prior to or at the point of manuscript submission.
Taylor & Francis
After generating your APC quote, contact the OA waivers team stating your request for a discretionary waiver. Include supporting evidence for why a waiver would be necessary in your circumstances.