How to get an article processing charge waived

Here is a number that should change how you approach publishing: of the DOAJ-listed biomedical journals that charge a fee, 1,811 out of 2,330 — 78% — state that they will waive it.

Waivers are not an exception grudgingly granted. They are a standard, publicly documented feature of most open-access journals. And most researchers who qualify never ask, because the policy is usually buried three clicks deep and nothing in the submission flow mentions it.

When you are likely to qualify

You are in a low- or middle-income country. Most large publishers run country-based schemes tied to the World Bank income classification or to Research4Life. In the strongest cases the fee goes to zero automatically. This covers a very large part of the world’s research population, including much of Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of the Middle East and Latin America.

You have no grant funding for publication. Many journals waive on demonstrated inability to pay, regardless of location. An unfunded PhD student at a wealthy university can qualify.

Your institution has no agreement and no fund. Some journals treat this as grounds on its own.

Your paper has particular public-health value. Case reports of emerging disease, negative results with clinical implications, work from an outbreak setting.

When to ask — this part matters

Ask before you submit, not after acceptance. This is the single most important thing in this guide.

Once your paper is accepted your leverage is gone and you are emotionally committed. Editors know this. Ask at submission, or email the editorial office beforehand, and get the answer in writing. If a journal will only discuss fees after acceptance, treat that as information about the journal.

Many submission systems have a waiver checkbox on the first screen. Tick it. At any journal running an honest process, the editors assessing your manuscript never see the funding status.

What to write

Keep it short, factual and unapologetic. You are using a documented policy.

Dear Editor,

I am preparing a submission to [Journal] and would like to request a waiver of the article processing charge under your waiver policy.

I am based at [institution] in [country]. This work was carried out without dedicated funding for publication costs, and neither I nor my institution has a budget available for article processing charges.

The manuscript reports [one sentence on what it is and why it matters].

I would be grateful if you could confirm whether a waiver or reduced rate is available before I submit.

Do not apologise, do not over-explain, and do not offer to pay part of it unless you actually can.

If the answer is no

A refusal is not the end. In order of what usually works:

1. Ask about a discount rather than a full waiver. Partial reductions are common and often approved when a full waiver is not.
2. Check for an institutional agreement. Your library may already cover this publisher entirely — most researchers do not know what their institution has signed.
3. Choose a different journal. There are 1,290 biomedical journals that charge nothing at all, and many more with lower fees in the same field.

That last option is the one researchers underuse. The journal you first thought of is rarely the only credible venue for your paper.

Find journals that offer waivers →