Countries
Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Belau, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Cook Islands, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, North Korea, Palestinian Territory, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Gabon, Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kosovo, Libya, Mauritius, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam
Source: www.research4life.org ↗. Each publisher may use its own version of these groups; the publisher pages below show the exact list each one uses.
Check your author team
Publishers and journals using this scheme
| Publisher or journal | What it gives | Whose affiliation counts | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elsevier | Automatic 100% waiver for Research4Life Group A and 50% for Group B in fully open access journals, but only when every author is in an eligible country | Every author | elsevier.com ↗ |
| Wiley | Full waiver or 50% discount by Wiley's country list (close to Research4Life), applied automatically when enough of the authors are eligible | Half of all authors | authors.wiley.com ↗ |
| Hindawi | Hindawi journals now follow Wiley's waiver policy | Half of all authors | authors.wiley.com ↗ |
| SAGE | Automatic full waiver for Research4Life Group A and a discount for Group B, by the corresponding author's affiliation | Corresponding author only | sagepub.com ↗ |
| Oxford University Press | Automatic waiver or discount in fully open access journals by an EIFL and Research4Life based country list | Corresponding author only | academic.oup.com ↗ |
| Cambridge University Press | Automatic 100% waiver for Research4Life Group A and 50% for Group B through the Cambridge Open Equity Initiative | Corresponding author only | cambridge.org ↗ |
| PLOS | Free publication for Research4Life Group A authors without external funding, reduced fees for Group B, and need-based fee assistance | Corresponding author only | plos.org ↗ |
| Copernicus Publications | Automatic 100% waiver for Research4Life Group A and B, and 50% for emerging economies | Corresponding author only | biogeosciences.net ↗ |
| MIT Press | Journal-specific waivers; Quantitative Science Studies waives the full APC for Research4Life countries | Corresponding author only | direct.mit.edu ↗ |
| Royal Society of Chemistry | Full waiver for Research4Life Group A and B, and a reduced APC for India, Indonesia and the Philippines | Corresponding author only | rsc.org ↗ |
| Cell Press | Cell Press follows Elsevier's Research4Life rule: every author must be in an eligible country | Every author | cell.com ↗ |
| Thieme | Automatic 100% waiver for Research4Life Group A and 50% for Group B in gold open access journals | Corresponding author only | thieme.com ↗ |
| IOP Publishing | 100%, 70% or 30% discount by World Bank income group (2026 pilot), automatic when all authors are eligible | Corresponding author + majority | publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org ↗ |
| AIP Publishing | Full waiver for its Group A countries and a reduced APC for Group B countries | Corresponding author only | publishing.aip.org ↗ |
| SPIE | Reduced APC under a special economic consideration list; the list could not be read | Case by case | medicalimaging.spiedigitallibrary.org ↗ |
| ACM | 100% waiver for authors in EIFL and Research4Life countries, plus hardship waivers and ACM Open institutional coverage | Corresponding author only | acm.org ↗ |
| IET | IET journals are published with Wiley and follow Wiley's waiver policy | Half of all authors | theiet.org ↗ |
| Science Advances (AAAS) | Automatic full waiver in Science Advances for Research4Life Group A and B, and hardship discounts | Corresponding author only | science.org ↗ |
| PLOS ONE journal | PLOS's own Research4Life fee assistance: free for Group A and USD 940 for Group B (instead of USD 2,477), both only for research without external funding; otherwise need-based fee assistance | Not stated by the journal | plos.org ↗ |
| BMJ | Full waiver only when every author is in a country on BMJ's list and the research is unfunded; partial discounts case by case | Every author | authors.bmj.com ↗ |
| American Society for Microbiology | Automatic full waiver for Research4Life Group A and a partial waiver for Group B | Corresponding author only | journals.asm.org ↗ |
| Portland Press | Full waiver for Research4Life (HINARI) Group A and a discount for Group B | Corresponding author only | portlandpress.com ↗ |
| Microbiology Society | Automatic 100% waiver for Research4Life Group A and EIFL countries, 50% for Group B | Corresponding author only | microbiologyresearch.org ↗ |
| Lancet open access journals journal | Exempt from payment when the main funder, or for unfunded work the majority of authors' institutions, is in a Research4Life country | Majority of institutions | thelancet.com ↗ |
| Heliyon journal | Heliyon's own discount on request: 100% for authors from Research4Life Group A countries and 50% for Group B, only for research without funding for the APC | Not stated by the journal | cell.com ↗ |
| KeAi | Research4Life waiver (100% Group A, 50% Group B) set per journal, and many society-sponsored journals with no APC | Corresponding author only | keaipublishing.com ↗ |
| Bioscientifica | Waiver or discount for countries on the Research4Life lists, on request at first submission | Case by case | bioscientifica.com ↗ |
| University of California Press | 75% discount for Research4Life Group A and B corresponding authors, plus a fee waiver fund | Corresponding author only | online.ucpress.edu ↗ |
Other schemes: EIFL agreements, World Bank income groups, Publisher country lists, Country-tiered APC pricing, National agreements (ONOS India), No APC (diamond and Subscribe to Open), Discretionary hardship waivers, Institutional and read & publish deals. APC waiver checker →
Frequently asked questions
What is Research4Life?
Free and low-cost access programme run by UN agencies and publishers. Its Group A (free) and Group B (low-cost) country lists are the most widely used basis for APC waivers.
Which publishers use Research4Life for APC waivers?
Among the publishers we checked: Elsevier, Wiley, Hindawi, SAGE, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, PLOS, Copernicus Publications, MIT Press, Royal Society of Chemistry, Cell Press, Thieme, IOP Publishing, AIP Publishing, SPIE, ACM, IET, Science Advances (AAAS), PLOS ONE, BMJ. Each one decides its own percentages and co-author rule.
Does being on the list guarantee a waiver?
No. The list decides which countries can qualify; each publisher then applies its own rule on whose affiliation counts, on funding and on journal type. Check the publisher page and confirm with the journal before submitting.