Elsevier introduces geographical pricing pilot to support authors in low - and middle- income countries with equitable open access publishing options

The GPOA model, a publishing industry first, is set to take effect from January 2024. As part of the pilot, Elsevier will structure its article publishing charges for this subset of journals based on countries’ local economic conditions and average income. By tailoring pricing structures according to Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, a transparent and well-established measure used by many international organisations including Research4Life, Elsevier aims to reduce financial barriers that have traditionally hindered researchers and institutions from low and middle-income countries from publishing the latest research in Gold Open Access journals. Elsevier’s approach to GPOA and country banding based on GNI are outlined on our website. A full list of the journals taking part in this novel pilot can be found here. Elsevier will continue to waive APCs for authors in the lowest economic band and already provides affordable access to over 100,000 peer-reviewed resources for institutions in 120 low- and middle-income countries through Research4Life(opens in new tab/window).

Stuart Whayman, Managing Director, Researchers and Librarians, Elsevier, said: "We acknowledge that economic disparities between regions are one of the barriers to achieving a more inclusive world of research. With Geographical Pricing for Open Access, we aim to test and learn from a more globally equitable model that reflects local economic circumstances to help researchers in low and middle-income countries to publish open access and contribute to scientific advancement for the benefit of society. There is more to be done to achieve inclusive and equitable open access publishing, we hope this is one incremental step that supports this journey.”

Elsevier’s GPOA builds on the company’s longstanding commitment to advancing openness and inclusion in research. GPOA also builds on Elsevier’s commitment to pricing journal article publishing charges below the market average, relative to comparable quality. The introduction of this pilot programme marks a positive step towards achieving a fairer, more transparent, and globally equitable pricing structure for scholarly publishing. Elsevier will evaluate, continually, its impact and share our learnings with the communities we serve.

Increasing the representation of all global research communities is a key focus for Elsevier and in 2020, it launched its Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board with distinguished experts to guide us on improving gender, race & ethnicity, and geographic representation across our own organisation and the wider academic community.

Read more about how Elsevier supports open access and knowledge sharing.

About Elsevier

As a global leader in scientific information and analytics, Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making with innovative solutions based on trusted, evidence-based content and advanced AI-enabled digital technologies.

We have supported the work of our research and healthcare communities for more than 140 years. Our 9,500 employees around the world, including 2,500 technologists, are dedicated to supporting researchers, librarians, academic leaders, funders, governments, R&D-intensive companies, doctors, nurses, future healthcare professionals and educators in their critical work. Our 2,900 scientific journals and iconic reference books include the foremost titles in their fields, including Cell Press, The Lancet and Gray’s Anatomy.

Together with the Elsevier Foundation(opens in new tab/window), we work in partnership with the communities we serve to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research and healthcare in developing countries and around the world.

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