How to request an article publishing charge discount or waiver

We offer waivers and discounts on the article publishing charges (APCs), sometimes known as article publication fees, which are required to publish in many full open access journals (Taylor & Francis Open or Routledge Open). Read on to see if you qualify for a discount or waiver, and how to request one.

Who can request an APC discount or waiver?
How do I request an APC discount or waiver?
Requesting a discretionary waiver
Open access agreements

Who can request an APC discount or waiver?

Waivers or discounts to reduce article publishing charges (APCs) for open access articles are available to:

• corresponding authors with primary affiliations based in countries defined by the World Bank as Low-Income Economies, who can apply for a 100% APC waiver when they publish in a full open access journal; or
• corresponding authors with primary affiliations based in countries defined by the World Bank as Lower-Middle-Income Economies, who can apply for a 50% discount on the normal APC when they publish in a full open access journal.

Please note that changes made to these lists by the World Bank each July can take a short period of time to be reflected in our submission systems. You may find discrepancies until the beginning of August while the update work takes place.

We also consider discretionary APC waiver requests for authors who don’t meet these criteria.

We are unable to accept payment from people and organisations in some countries where international banking restrictions apply.

Waivers and discounts are only available for submissions to full open access journals, and do not apply for submissions made to an Open Select (hybrid) journal. Our waiver policy only applies to corresponding authors.

Requesting an APC Waiver

1. Check that your country is one of those defined by the World Bank as being low-income (100% discount) or lower-middle-income (50% discount).
   
2. Check that the journal you’re submitting to is one of the full open access journals included in this scheme.
   
3. Submit through the journal’s online submission system, making sure that you follow the journal’s individual instructions for authors found on Taylor & Francis Online.
   
4. In the submission system, the ‘Charges’ page will show the standard APC for the open access journal you are submitting to, which is determined by your location and article type.
   
5. If you are eligible for a waiver or a discount as part of our country-based waiver policy you will be notified at the top of the page. If you wish to accept the waiver or discount please scroll to the end of the page and click ‘Next’. If you have funding for your APC and do not wish to take up the waiver or discount please check the box ‘I do not wish to request a waiver for my article’.

6. If you have been given a discount code, enter it in the space provided, and click ‘Apply Discount’. If you are notified that you are eligible for a country based discount but instead have a discount code please check the box ‘I do not wish to request a waiver for my article’ and the discount code box will appear. Country based waivers and discount codes cannot be combined.

7. If you wish to request a discretionary discount, please click ‘Yes’ when asked if you need a discretionary waiver. Select the reason for your request from the drop-down box and upload supporting documentation. Click ‘Done’.

8. After you click ‘Next’ you will be given the chance to review your submission details. If the total APC appears to be incorrect, please return to the previous page and check that you have completed the details correctly or applied your discount code.
   
9. If the quote is correct, please click ‘Submit’. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to proceed. Clicking ‘Yes’ will submit your work for consideration in the journal. Please do not take this step unless you agree with the quoted APC.
   
   Please note: do not click ‘Submit’ until your discretionary waiver request has either been confirmed or denied. The quoted APC will only be payable if your article is accepted for publication following peer review.

10. Your paper will go through peer review as normal. Journal editors or reviewers won’t see requests for a discount or waiver, and it won’t influence the outcome of your submission.

Requesting a discretionary waiver

We will consider requests for discretionary APC waivers by researchers who aren’t eligible for the policies above. Waivers are only available for submissions to full open access journals, and do not apply for submissions made to an Open Select (hybrid) journal. Requests must be made on submission; we are unable to consider any requests later in the publication process.

During the submission process you will be asked if you wish to request a discretionary discount or waiver. Please include supporting evidence for why a discount or waiver would be necessary in your circumstances.

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

To guarantee peer-review integrity, the waiver process is not managed by journal academic editors.

Please note that if we have reason to believe an author has provided false information as part of their waiver request, we reserve the right to rescind any discount offered, and the full APC will apply.

Open access agreement