Addressing the Shortcomings of Fee-Based OA Publishers’ Discretionary Waivers
Location
Online
Start Date
21-10-2025 12:55 PM
End Date
21-10-2025 1:35 PM
Description
Scholarly publishers are increasingly adopting pay-to-publish open access (OA) business models that rely on the Article Processing Charge (APC) for revenue generation. While these models yield OA articles, and thereby contribute to the net availability of freely accessible scholarship, APCs likewise foreclose opportunities among authors for whom such fees are cost-prohibitive. That is, when a given journal’s only route to publication imposes a compulsory APC, authors who cannot afford to pay are left unable to participate in the scholarly conversation altogether––even though they can read the content for free. Fee-based OA publishers have offered two broad mitigation strategies. First, they have implemented full and partial waiver programs for eligible authors. And second, they have approached libraries to intervene on behalf of authors through membership discounts and read-and-publish offers. Libraries, too, have responded by launching APC subvention funds and by agreeing to join the publishers’ memberships and signing their read-and-publish deals. Yet, these strategies have limitations and challenges of their own.
In this presentation, I focus in particular on the shortcomings of publishers’ discretionary waiver programs. While recent guidelines from COPE (2025) and OASPA (2024) provide key recommendations to publishers, I discuss how libraries can also play a role in reducing the onerousness of discretionary waiver programs on authors. My presentation will explain the basic contours of discretionary waivers, identify common and thorny features, and show how libraries can help place authors in a better position to receive discretionary waivers when they need them.
Addressing the Shortcomings of Fee-Based OA Publishers’ Discretionary Waivers
Online
Scholarly publishers are increasingly adopting pay-to-publish open access (OA) business models that rely on the Article Processing Charge (APC) for revenue generation. While these models yield OA articles, and thereby contribute to the net availability of freely accessible scholarship, APCs likewise foreclose opportunities among authors for whom such fees are cost-prohibitive. That is, when a given journal’s only route to publication imposes a compulsory APC, authors who cannot afford to pay are left unable to participate in the scholarly conversation altogether––even though they can read the content for free. Fee-based OA publishers have offered two broad mitigation strategies. First, they have implemented full and partial waiver programs for eligible authors. And second, they have approached libraries to intervene on behalf of authors through membership discounts and read-and-publish offers. Libraries, too, have responded by launching APC subvention funds and by agreeing to join the publishers’ memberships and signing their read-and-publish deals. Yet, these strategies have limitations and challenges of their own.
In this presentation, I focus in particular on the shortcomings of publishers’ discretionary waiver programs. While recent guidelines from COPE (2025) and OASPA (2024) provide key recommendations to publishers, I discuss how libraries can also play a role in reducing the onerousness of discretionary waiver programs on authors. My presentation will explain the basic contours of discretionary waivers, identify common and thorny features, and show how libraries can help place authors in a better position to receive discretionary waivers when they need them.
