APS Journal Article Access for Developing Countries

Open Access Publishing and Access for Lower and Middle-income Countries

APS supports researchers in over 115  lower and middle-income countries and territories by providing access to institutions through Research4Life, and covers the cost of open access Article Publication Charges (APCs) to submitting authors based in those countries.

Access to Journals

Access to the full range of APS journals through Research4Life is available to non-profit institutions in over 115 countries and territories in the list below, as well as recognised refugee camps. Institutions & researchers interested in taking advantage of this should visit Research4Life’s access page for further information.

APS also supports the ICTP Electronic Journals Delivery Service (eJDS) for delivery of article PDFs for many low and middle-income countries.

 

Open Access Publishing

For new submissions from 1 January 2024

APS has launched a new program to cover the costs of open access for authors based in lower-income countries across the full range of Physical Review journals to reduce inequities caused by the shift towards fully open access publishing. Eligible authors will not need to pay any APC for publishing open access, and open access will be the default publishing route.

How it works

  1. Select the appropriate journal for your research. All APS Hybrid and Gold journals are included in this program.

  2. Submit your paper! The submitting author must be affiliated with an institution in one of the Research4Life countries listed below to be eligible. This affiliation must be clear on both the submission form and manuscript. 

  3. APS will automatically identify articles that qualify for this program. If your article is accepted for publication, our letter asking you to confirm open access rights will indicate this. 

  4. You will need to agree to the CC-BY license. You may opt-out if you prefer not to publish open access (hybrid journals only). Your article will be published open access at no cost to you.

Submit your article

If you are not based in one of the included countries (below) you will not be eligible for this program. You can continue to publish without cost to you if the article is in a hybrid journal where the reader is subscribing, or, if the article is in a fully open journal, an APC will be due from you upon publication.

Inclusion in this program is not visible to editorial staff, ensuring that any editorial decisions in no way reflect OA status. 

If you need help during this process please contact help@aps.org.

 

List of eligible countries

APS is pleased to include over 115 countries and territories from Research4Life’s Eligibility lists for both subscription access and open access support.

This list will be updated from time to time according to Research4Life’s categorisation or at APS’ discretion. Any changes will be infrequent and will not impact eligible articles already submitted.

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cambodia

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Congo

Cook Islands

Côte d’Ivoire

Cuba

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Djibouti

Dominica

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Ghana

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Iraq

Jamaica

Jordan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kosovo 

Kyrgyzstan

Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya




 

Madagascar

Malawi

Maldives

Mali

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius 

Micronesia (Federated States of)

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

Niue

North Macedonia

Palau

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Republic of Moldova

Rwanda

Saint Helena

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa

Sao Tome and Principe

Senegal

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Sudan

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Syrian Arab Republic

Tajikistan

Timor-Leste

Togo

Tokelau

Tonga

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

United Republic of Tanzania

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

West Bank and Gaza Strip

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Eligible non-profit institutions are:

  • national universities

  • professional schools

  • research institutes

  • teaching hospitals and healthcare centers

  • government offices

  • national libraries

  • agricultural extension centers

  • local, non-governmental organizations


Note: Refugee Camps recognized by UNRWA or categorized by UNHCR as “planned/managed camps” are eligible for free Research4Life access regardless of their geographical location.

Conditions

  1. Changes to the corresponding author during or after peer-review will not change the eligibility of the article for our open access support, which is based on the submitting author.

  2. Inclusion in this program is independent of any editorial decision and is not visible to editorial staff. Publication decisions are made by the editorial team based solely on the scientific contents of the article.

  3. Affiliations must be legitimate and any false declarations of authorship is a breach of scientific ethics, and eligibility for this program will be denied.