Local solutions, global impact For over 20 years, we’ve amplified underrepresented voices in research. Since introducing full article processing charge (APC) waivers in 2022, we’ve granted 70% more waivers to authors from low and middle income countries (LMICs) compared to the three years before the policy began. In the past year alone, 3 nearly 10% of the open access research we published came from LMIC authors. We have also provided free online access to our journals through Research4Life (R4L) , giving more than 11,000 institutions in 125 low and middle income countries access to research.
Our approach is helping close the knowledge gap. In early 2025, nearly 95% of all LMIC- originated research was published open access, up from 36% in 2021 and 56% in 2022.
In August 2021, Dr Bruce Kirenga and his team at the Makerere University Lung Institute published a pivotal study in BMJ Open Respiratory Research on the efficacy of convalescent plasma for covid-19 treatment in Uganda . 4 The study’s findings on the limited efficacy of convalescent plasma (CP) helped shape major treatment guidelines. In Therapeutics and COVID-19: Living guideline, the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly advises against CP for all severity levels of covid-19 due to limited benefit and potential safety risks. The National Institutes of Health similarly recommends against CP outside of clinical trials, except in rare cases involving immunocompromised patients. 5 The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also discourages routine use, 6 reinforcing a shift towards more effective therapies like antivirals and monoclonal antibodies. Where most publications in the biomedical and clinical sciences field receive only two to three citations, this study has far exceeded that benchmark. BMJ Impact Analytics shows 46 citations in health policy, eight in clinical guidance, How Ugandan research shaped covid-19 treatment
and uptake across five countries. 7 Such reach underlines its role in shaping evidence informed global health practice. Dr Kirenga and his team chose open access to ensure their research reached a global audience without barriers, facilitating faster dissemination of critical findings. Making their work freely available enabled healthcare professionals and policymakers in LMICs to access the latest evidence on affordable and accessible therapies.
“Open access publishing ensures the publications are available to everyone, including scientists and policymakers in resource poor settings.”
Dr Bruce Kirenga , chief research scientist and founding director of the Makerere University Lung Institute
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