Waiver and discount policy
AboutScience is an open access multidisciplinary publisher which receives no public or educational funding. All editorial costs are covered by article processing charges (APC) and they contribute to enable free access to published contents, of which the authors retain copyright. Publication fees are based on article type and vary for each publication. Publication fees contribute to cover the costs of peer review administration and management, professional copyediting, typesetting or articles in PDF and additional formats, dissemination of published contents and other operations typically connected to publishing. There are no submission fees, or fees for rejected articles, no page charges or colour figure charges. Some items are published free of charge. APCs and waivers are handled independently and do not interfere with editorial peer review and editors’ decisions
How can authors fund their articles
AboutScience publishing standards are in line with most institutional funding programs. Publication fees may be paid by the author, the author’s institution, or their research funder. We recommend that you contact your institution to establish available options. There is a growing number of funders who allow the use of grants for covering Open Access publication costs or have established separate funds for the same purpose. We are members of the Open Access Switchboard, an independent central information exchange hub connecting publishers, funders and institution to streamline communication and the neutral exchange of Open Access related publication-level information and reporting
Who qualifies?
To enable a fair evaluation of your waiver or discount request, you should meet the following criteria:
- All authors on the paper are located in a country, area or territory included in the World Bank list
- The research must have been carried out in a country, area or territory included in the World Bank list
- The research received no funding or there is no funding available to support its publication
Authors who receive the support of, or are employed by, a commercial organization (e.g. pharmaceutical company) will not be liable to receive this discounted price. They will be asked to pay the full advertised price in effect at the time of submission.
Our waiver and discount policy
To enable authors with no or limited access to funding to publish their articles, we have a discount policy in place. Waiver and discount priority is granted to Authors who reside in countries listed by the World Bank (accessed in September 2025) as follows:
Low income economies: waivers applicable
Lower-middle economies: waivers applicable
Upper-middle economies: waivers applicable
High-income economies: no discount or waiver
How to Apply for a waiver or discount
Upon submission (or prior to submission) complete this form: it provides all information we require to evaluate your request. Please also provide, if available, any official document to support your request. Should a waiver request provide false information, we shall request full publication fees payment.
