ACM APC Waiver and Discount Policy: Who Qualifies and How to Apply

At a glance100% waiver for authors in EIFL and Research4Life countries, plus hardship waivers and ACM Open institutional coverage. Corresponding author only Applied automatically from the affiliation

Check ACM's waiver for your author team

Co-authors (where they work)

Only the country is needed: without a journal you get every publisher's result for your author team. Free. No sign-up. Uses the publishers' published rules, last verified 27 October 2026.

Which countries qualify at ACM

Countries are matched by the author's institutional affiliation, not nationality.

100% waiver 102 countries ACM waiver country list

Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belau, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Cook Islands, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, India, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territory, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Co-authors from other countries

Only the corresponding author's affiliation counts. Co-authors from other countries do not change the waiver.

'Corresponding authors affiliated with institutions in countries covered by ACM's agreements with EIFL and Research4Life'

Country-specific arrangements

  • India (ONOS): no APC for authors at institutions covered by the ACM agreement. ACM's waiver table also lists India among its 100% countries, which is unusual; confirm with ACM before relying on it.

How to get the waiver

NA; applies only if not covered by ACM Open licence.

Programmes: Geographic waivers: 100% EIFL and Research4Life countries, 50% World Bank lower-middle; hardship waiver; ACM Open institutional licences (fully open access from 2026); ONOS: no APCs at participating institutions.

Official sources: acm.org ↗ · acm.org (2) ↗

ACM journals on ScholarsColab

Each journal page shows its indexing, impact factor, review time, reviewer comments and this waiver.

Oxford University PressSpringer NatureTaylor & FrancisSAGEPLOSBioMed Central (BMC)De Gruyter BrillAIP PublishingThe Company of BiologistsPortland PressMicrobiology SocietyElsevier

Schemes used: Research4Life, EIFL agreements, World Bank income groups, Institutional and read & publish deals, National agreements (ONOS India). All publishers and schemes →

Frequently asked questions

Does ACM offer APC waivers?

100% waiver for authors in EIFL and Research4Life countries, plus hardship waivers and ACM Open institutional coverage. Applied automatically from the affiliation.

Who gets a full APC waiver at ACM?

Authors affiliated in 102 countries qualify for a 100% waiver. Only the corresponding author's affiliation counts. Co-authors from other countries do not change the waiver.

Does the ACM waiver apply if my co-authors are from other countries?

Only the corresponding author's affiliation counts. Co-authors from other countries do not change the waiver.

How do I apply for an APC waiver at ACM?

NA; applies only if not covered by ACM Open licence.

Are there national arrangements with ACM?

India (ONOS): no APC for authors at institutions covered by the ACM agreement. ACM's waiver table also lists India among its 100% countries, which is unusual; confirm with ACM before relying on it.

Before you submit

Source, method and date. Each publisher's rule was read from its official waiver page (linked on every row) and the country lists from Research4Life, EIFL, the World Bank income classification and the publishers' own lists. Last verified: 27 October 2026. Policies change, Research4Life updates its lists every January and the World Bank every July, and some waivers are temporary or decided case by case. The checker reads the published rules; it cannot promise a waiver. Confirm on the publisher's page before you submit. ScholarsColab is not affiliated with any publisher listed here; logos are trademarks of their owners, shown only to name the publishers whose rules we read.

Confidence of this entry: High (Ukraine, Nepal) / Medium (India).