Open Access Grants

SIGCOMM is committed to ensuring that all authors can publish their work openly and accessibly, regardless of financial resources. ACM’s transition to Open Access expands the global reach of SIGCOMM research by making publications freely available to students, educators, practitioners, and researchers everywhere, lowering barriers to readership and increasing opportunities for collaboration and impact. To support this transition and reduce the financial burden on authors, SIGCOMM provides multiple avenues of assistance.

How SIGCOMM Supports Open Access Fees

To ensure that publication costs do not prevent authors from sharing their research, SIGCOMM offers several forms of support:

• Our SIG (SIGCOMM) will be providing funding to offset fees for all authors for its events. This means fees will already be reduced below ACM’s standard charges for this year.

• Papers with at least one author from an institution participating in ACM Open will have their fees waived by ACM.

• ACM offers a geography-based waiver program for researchers in certain developing regions.

• SIGCOMM will in addition host its own Financial Hardship Waiver program (SIGCOMM-FHW). 

• Priority will be given to authors from low-income countries or from institutions and research groups without active grant funding. Additional documentation may be requested. We encourage applications from authors who are part of underrepresented or diverse communities.

• Authors with financial need can submit a brief statement, and we will approve applications based on that need. (to apply, authors can select the waiver request option available within the ACM e-rights system and provide all necessary information, which will be forwarded to the SIG)

Our Commitment

SIGCOMM is actively working with ACM to explore additional ways to reduce Open Access fees in future years. Our goal is to ensure that every author has a clear, supportive path to publishing their work openly so that SIGCOMM research can reach the widest possible global audience. If you notice problems, have questions or need assistance, we very much hope you will reach out to us (ec@sigcomm.org).