Policy on Discretionary APC Waivers

As from January 1, 2026 all ACM Publications will be published on a fully Open Access basis and will require participation in ACM Open, the payment of an APC, or a geographic or discretionary waiver to publish with ACM.

ACM authors not covered by ACM Open or a geographic waiver may apply for a discretionary waiver from ACM, based on genuine financial hardship. Geographic waivers will be processed automatically, so authors need take no additional steps if they are eligible for a geographic waiver or discount.

To request a discretionary APC waiver, please write to [email protected] and include the following information:

• Article Title
• Author Names and Institutional Affiliations for all listed co-authors, including all authors' departmental affiliations
• Publication Title (i.e.- Journal Title, Conference Title, Magazine Title, etc.)
• Submission Date
• Acceptance Date (i.e. - if already accepted)
• The name of the Research Funder underwriting the research
• A detailed explanation of the reason for the waiver request. Simply stating an inability to pay an APC as a result of being a graduate student or independent consultant without an affiliated institution is not itself a demonstration of financial hardship

Authors must demonstrate an inability to pay and not rely solely on a statement that they are unable to pay. ACM's decision making will be based primarily on the requesting author demonstrating special and unique circumstances, such as being directly impacted by war, political instability, natural disasters, or other extraordinary events. Being a graduate student with co-authors in a large research institution in a developed country is the most common reason for requesting a waiver, but without demonstrating genuine financial hardship, such requests are typically not approved by ACM. Only applications that demonstrate a genuine financial hardship will be considered. 

Please note the following:

1. Papers with multiple co-authors from computer science or engineering departments in developed countries where there is a reasonable expectation that the authors' institutions should be ACM Open participants, typically Tier 1-5 institutions based on the ACM Open tiering structure, are unlikely to receive discretionary waivers, as the sustainability of ACM’s Open Access publishing model depends on the financial support of research institutions and their affiliated authors. Tier 1-5 institutions publish 20 or more APC-eligible papers annually with ACM and it would not be possible to grant discretionary waivers for authors affiliated from these institutions. If you request a discretionary waiver, we will notify you if your institutional affiliation would disqualify you from receiving a discretionary waiver.

2. Papers with co-authors affiliated with for-profit companies are not eligible to receive discretionary waivers, as the expectation is that the co-author's employer should be funding the research outputs on behalf of their employees.

3. Discretionary waivers will not be granted for Hybrid Open Access publications in 2025, as these publications may still publish without an APC requirement. In 2025, only ICPS conference articles are fully Open Access and are eligible for discretionary waivers.