Open Access APC Waivers and Discounts

ACM offers Article Processing Charge (APC) waivers and discounts for corresponding authors in several specific categories, as follows:

• Authors based in low income countries, as identified in the World Bank List of Economies: 100% waiver
• Authors based in lower middle income countries, as identified in the World Bank List of Economies: 50% discount off applicable APCs
• Authors from countries covered by ACM’s agreements with EIFL and Research4Life: 100% waiver

Authors not covered by these automatic waivers and discounts may apply for a discretionary waiver from ACM, based on financial need. The criteria used to evaluate such applications include:

• The corresponding author’s institutional affiliation
• The author’s departmental affiliation
• The author’s available research funding, its source, and whether it is applicable to APCs
• The funder's OA publication policies
• Other financial considerations

To request a discretionary Open Access APC waiver, please write to [email protected] and include the following information:

• Article Title
• Author Names and Institutional Affiliations for all listed co-authors, including all authors' departmental affiliations
• Publication Title (i.e.- Journal Title, Conference Title, Magazine Title, etc.)
• Submission Date
• Acceptance Date (i.e. - if already accepted)
• A detailed explanation of the reason for the waiver request

Waivers and discounts are currently not available for ACM's Hybrid Open Access publications.

This policy statement is consistent with the Research4Life Best Practices for APC Waivers.