Alternatives to Article Processing Charges

The Gates Foundation’s Open Access Policy requires grantees to make foundation-funded manuscripts available as a preprint, and the foundation no longer pays article processing charges (APCs). As you prepare a manuscript, plan to post a preprint with a CC BY license. For step-by-step guidance, visit the Open Access website: https://openaccess.gatesfoundation.org/.

To comply with the foundation’s Open Access Policy, grantees need to post a preprint or deposit their author accepted manuscript in PubMed Central (PMC). Neither of these routes has a cost to the grantee.

APC alternatives to explore:

The foundation has agreements with and financially supports publishing in:

• PLOS journals
• VeriXiv/Gates Open Research
• eLife

Grantee authors have several alternatives they can explore for APCs and no-fee publishing options:

• Checking whether your institution, or a co-author’s institution, has a publisher agreement or open access fund.
• Checking whether you or a co-author has another non-Gates funding source that can cover the fee.
• Asking the publisher whether an APC waiver is available.
• Considering journals that do not rely on APCs. Resources such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Free Journal Network can help identify diamond open access journals, no-fee journals, and other community-led publishing options.

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Questions about Open Access? 

Visit the Gates Foundation Open Access Policy website.
Email [e-mail].  
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