Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A publisher automatically waives APCs for corresponding authors based in Research4Life countries.
- Is an instance
A funder pays APCs on behalf of grantees and publishes annual statistics on waiver-grant rates.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A publisher's waiver policy described as 'available on request' with a granted rate of less than 10%.
- Not an instance
An institutional OA fund that disproportionately supports researchers in well-funded disciplines.
Editorial commentary
APC-based access" class="text-primary underline-offset-2 hover:underline" data-autolinked="true" title="Open access — CASRAI Dictionary">open access has been criticised for shifting paywalls from readers to authors, advantaging researchers in well-funded institutions and disadvantaging those in less-resourced settings, particularly in the Global South. Author fee equity asks publishers and funders to provide: automatic waivers for authors from low- and middle-income countries (Research4Life country list, etc.); transparent waiver-grant rates; institutional waiver programmes; consortium-level pure publish agreements that remove individual author burden; and active investment in diamond OA alternatives that avoid APCs entirely.
References
- Research4Life. Plan S Price Transparency Framework. STM Association 'Transparent and FAIR pricing' 2022.
Also known as
APC equity · Author-side fee equity
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Author fee equity"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/author-fee-equity" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "Author fee equity",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/author-fee-equity",
"description": "The principle that author-side publication charges (APCs, page charges, submission fees) should not act as a barrier to publication, with equitable access ensured through waivers, transformative agreements, diamond OA alternatives or funder support.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/knowledge-equity-diversity-global-south-inclusion/",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/author-fee-equity",
"sameAs": [
"APC equity",
"Author-side fee equity"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}
