Elsevier introduces Geographical Pricing Pilot to support authors in low- and middle-oncome countries with equitable open access publishing options

"Elsevier, a global leader in scientific publishing and information analytics, today announced that it is piloting Geographical Pricing for Open Access (GPOA) across 142 of its Gold Open Access journals to make open access article publishing charges (APCs) more affordable for authors in low- and middle-income countries.

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...."