Royal Society Open Access Equity

In keeping with our role as the UK's national academy of science, we fund open access where there is a cost barrier for authors. Our Royal Society Open Access Equity scheme supports tens of thousands of eligible researchers in over 100 low- and middle-income countries and territories by providing:

Automatic APC waivers on all journals

We offer free open access publication to researchers from low- and medium-income countries and territories on all journals to share the benefits of open access.  

Corresponding authors at institutions in the countries and territories listed below will be eligible based on the submission date. This is applicable for papers first submitted after 31 July 2023. No application is required and authors will be automatically recognised as eligible for open access publishing once their paper has been accepted with no direct cost to them or their institution. Please ensure that you select the open access option when prompted if you wish to benefit from this.

All original research, including research articles, review articles, rapid communications, brief reports, and case reports are eligible. 

Eligible countries and territories

A full list of countries and territories with free access and/or automatic APC waivers follows. If your country is not listed, you will still be able to access some Royal Society journal content for free or be eligible for a discretionary waiver in our fully open access journals. 

 Country or territory  Eligible for automatic APC waivers  Eligible to access all journal articles free 
 Afghanistan  Yes  Yes
 Albania   Yes  Yes 
 Angola  Yes   Yes 
 Armenia   Yes  Yes 
 Azerbaijan   Yes  N/A
 Bangladesh  Yes  Yes 
 Belize  Yes  Yes 
 Benin  Yes  Yes 
 Bhutan  Yes  Yes 
 Bolivia, Plurinational State of  Yes  Yes 
 Botswana  Yes  N/A
 Burkina Faso  Yes  Yes 
 Burundi  Yes  Yes 
 Cabo Verde   Yes  Yes 
 Cambodia  Yes  Yes 
 Cameroon   Yes  Yes 
 Central African Republic  Yes  Yes 
 Chad  Yes  Yes 
 Comoros  Yes  Yes 
 Congo  Yes  Yes 
 Congo, the Democratic Republic of the  Yes  Yes 
 Cook Islands  Yes  Yes 
 Côte d'Ivoire   Yes  Yes 
 Cuba  Yes  Yes 
 Djibouti  Yes  Yes 
 Dominica  Yes  Yes 
 El Salvador   Yes  Yes 
 Equatorial Guinea  Yes  Yes 
 Eritrea   Yes  Yes 
 Eswatini formerly Swaziland  Yes  Yes 
 Ethiopia  Yes  Yes 
 Fiji  Yes  N/A
 Gabon  Yes  Yes 
 Gambia   Yes  Yes 
 Georgia  Yes  Yes 
 Ghana   Yes  Yes 
 Grenada  Yes  Yes 
 Guatemala  Yes  Yes 
 Guinea  Yes  Yes 
 Guinea-Bissau  Yes  Yes 
 Guyana  Yes  Yes 
 Haiti  Yes  Yes 
 Honduras  Yes  Yes 
 Iraq  Yes  Yes 
 Kenya  Yes  Yes 
 Kiribati  Yes  Yes 
 Korea, Democratic People's Republic of  Yes  Yes 
 Kosovo  Yes  N/A
 Kyrgyzstan  Yes  Yes 
 Lao People's Democratic Republic  Yes  Yes 
 Lebanon   Yes   Yes 
 Lesotho  Yes  Yes 
 Liberia  Yes  Yes 
 Madagascar  Yes  Yes 
 Malawi   Yes  Yes 
 Maldives  Yes  Yes 
 Mali   Yes  Yes 
 Marshall Islands  Yes  Yes 
 Mauritania  Yes  Yes 
 Micronesia   Yes  Yes 
 Moldova, Republic of  Yes  Yes 
 Mongolia   Yes  Yes 
 Mozambique  Yes  Yes 
 Myanmar  Yes  Yes 
 Nauru   Yes  Yes 
 Nepal  Yes  Yes 
 Nicaragua  Yes  Yes 
 Niger  Yes  Yes 
 Nigeria  Yes  Yes 
 Niue  Yes  Yes 
 North Macedonia   Yes  N/A
 Palau  Yes

 Yes

 Palestine, Occupied Territories  Yes  Yes
 Papua New Guinea   Yes   Yes 
 Paraguay  Yes  Yes 
 Rwanda  Yes  Yes 
 Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha  Yes  Yes 
 Saint Kitts and Nevis  Yes  Yes 
 Saint Lucia   Yes  Yes 
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Yes  Yes 
 Samoa  Yes  Yes 
 Sao Tome and Principe   Yes  Yes 
 Serbia  Yes   N/A
 Senegal  Yes  Yes 
 Sierra Leone  Yes  Yes 
 Solomon Islands  Yes  Yes 
 Somalia   Yes  Yes 
 South Sudan  Yes  Yes 
 Sudan  Yes  Yes 
 Suriname  Yes  Yes 
 Syrian Arab Republic  Yes  Yes 
 Tajikistan  Yes  Yes 
 Tanzania, United Republic of  Yes  Yes 
 Timor-Leste   Yes  Yes 
 Togo   Yes  Yes 
 Tokelau  Yes  Yes 
 Tonga  Yes  Yes 
 Tunisia  Yes  Yes 
 Tuvalu  Yes  Yes 
 Uganda  Yes  Yes 
 Ukraine   Yes  Yes 
 Uzbekistan  Yes  Yes 
 Vanuatu  Yes  Yes 
 Viet Nam   Yes  Yes 
 Yemen  Yes  Yes 
 Zambia  Yes  Yes 
 Zimbabwe  Yes  Yes 

International partners

We support researchers in over 100 low- and middle-income countries and territories by partnering with a number of international schemes. 

  • International Network for Advancing Science and Policy Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (INASP PERii): ensures low-and middle-income countries are part of international knowledge networks. 
  • HINARI Programme: set up by WHO together with major publishers, enables low-and middle-income countries to gain access to 1 of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature. 
  • Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE): an international public-private consortium coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Yale University enables developing countries to gain access to 1 of the world's largest collections of environmental science research. 
  • Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA): a program to provide free or low cost access to major scientific journals in agriculture and related biological, environmental and social sciences to public institutions in developing countries.  
  • Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL): works with libraries worldwide to enable access to digital information in developing and transition countries. They are an international not for profit organisation based in Europe with a global network of partners.  
  • Research4Life provides institutions in lower income countries with online access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content. With the aim to improve teaching, research and policy-making in health, agriculture, the environment and other life, physical and social sciences.