For scientists and medical researchers in low income countries, lack of access to costly subscription-based journals is a major impediment to their work.

BioMed Central is an open access publisher specializing in science, technology and medicine (STM) publishing. It provides free, immediate and permanent online access to the full text of all articles published within its portfolio of over 200 peer-reviewed journals.

Open access publishing gives researchers all over the world immediate free access to high-quality peer-reviewed scientific research.

What are the benefits of open access publishing?

Access to research
By offering barrier-free access to the latest scientific and medical research, open access publishing can play an important role in international development.

Communication of research
Open access publishing ensures the rapid and efficient communication of research findings and, with high visibility of articles, leads to high levels of access and citation. To further support researchers in low-income countries BioMed Central operates a Waiver fund . Automatic waivers of article-processing charges for researchers in qualifying countries ensure that authors do not face a financial barrier to publishing their research in a BioMed Central journal.

Building visibility for research institutions
Universities and research institutions benefit from the increasing visibility and impact of the work carried out by their researchers. To encourage the support of open access research among universities and research institutions in eligible low-income countries BioMed Central has launched free Foundation Membership and an Open Access Package.

For more information about BioMed Central and its open access journals see BioMed Central's main website.