PLOS is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy, and practice.

Building on a strong legacy of pioneering innovation, PLOS continues to be a catalyst, reimagining models to meet open science principles, removing barriers and promoting inclusion in knowledge creation and sharing, and publishing research outputs that enable everyone to learn from, reuse and build upon scientific knowledge.

We believe in a better future where science is open to all, for all.

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Global Equity agreement

Making open access publishing equitable for researchers in every region

We believe scientific knowledge is strengthened by diverse perspectives, and that it accelerates progress faster when it is shared openly. Our Global Equity agreement removes financial barriers for researchers to participate in open access and open science by offering affordable, equitable partnership opportunities for their institutions in every region of the world.

How it works

Institutions who partner with us through our Global Equity agreement pay an annual flat fee per journal to ensure researchers at their institution who wish to publish in PLOS Climate, PLOS Global Public Health, PLOS Mental Health and/or PLOS Water never face publication fees at those journals. Institutional participation fees are based on each institution’s historical research output in the field and are reflective of their regional economy according to their country’s World Bank lending tier.

Institutions geographically located in Research4Life countries are automatically included in our Global Equity agreement. Researchers at these institutions will never be subject to fees at these journals.

Benefits for your institution

Affordable and regionally equitable pricing

Our Global Equity agreement is designed to empower institutions in every region of the world to provide open access support for their authors by removing financial barriers. Our tiered institutional pricing makes unlimited publication opportunities more affordable than individual APCs for institutions of all income levels, and is reflective of each institution’s regional economy, providing equitable opportunities to participate.

Open new opportunities for your researchers

Increasing global participation in open access publishing broadens the perspectives we learn from in addressing global challenges. Our issue-driven journals; PLOS Climate, PLOS Global Public Health, PLOS Mental Health and PLOS Water, are inclusive of a broad range of disciplinary expertise and seek to amplify underrepresented perspectives. Our Global Equity agreement provides a way to support all researchers who wish to make their voices heard.

Deeper insights and transparency

We believe in giving our partners more insight into publication activity and cost, to continue driving solutions that benefit the entire scholarly community. Under the Plan S Journal Comparison Service framework, we’ve committed to sharing our journal costs and fees transparently. We invite you to work with us to define and refine data insight needs around the activity of your authors.

Choose the right institutional agreement for you

We recognise that all institutions are different. We offer different options for institutions that reflect the diverse research needs of our communities.

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Community Action Publishing

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Flat Fee Agreements

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APCs for institutions

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Frequently asked questions

If you have any questions about our institutional agreements and how they can benefit your institution, we recommend exploring our FAQ section.

Read our FAQs

All PLOS partnership agreement are subject to PLOS’ Master Publishing Terms of Service. Institutions or consortia that wish to partner with us should contact us for further information.

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