Waiving article processing charges for least developed countries: a keystone of a large-scale open access transformation

• Published in: Insights the UKSG journal Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Taubert, Niels, Bruns, Andre, Lenke, Christopher, Stone, Graham
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newbury Ubiquity Press Ltd 06.01.2021; United Kingdom Serials Group (UKSG); Ubiquity Press
• Subjects: Agreements; apc waiver; article processing charges; Classification; Communication channels; Developing countries; Fees & charges; Humanities; LDCs; least developed countries; Life expectancy; open access; open access large-scale transformation; Open access publishing; Prices; Publication output; Publishing industry; Revenue; Social sciences; Subscriptions; United Kingdom; California; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 2048-7754; 2048-7754
• DOI: 10.1629/uksg.526

This article investigates whether it is economically feasible for a large publishing house to waive article processing charges for the group of 47 so-called least developed countries (LDC). As an example, Springer Nature is selected. The analysis is based on the Web of Science, OpenAPC and the Jisc Collections' Springer Compact journal list. As a result, it estimates an average yearly publication output of 520 publications (or 0.26% of the worldwide publication output in Springer Nature journals) for the LDC country group. The loss of revenues for Springer Nature would be US$1.1 million if a waiver was applied for all of these countries. Given that the subject categories of these publications indicate the output is of high societal relevance for LDC, and given that money is indispensable for development in these countries (e.g. life expectancy, health, education), it is not only desirable but also possible in economic terms for a publisher like Springer Nature to waive APCs for these countries without much loss in revenues.