The ARVO Publication Financial Assistance Program (PFAP), formerly known as the Publications Grant, is available to authors who need funding assistance to publish in one of our three open access journals: Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS); Journal of Vision (JOV) and Translational Vision Science and Technology (TVST). This program is supported by the ARVO Foundation and aligns with ARVO's goal to capture the full spectrum of vision science in our family of journals. The program is funded by donations and is intended to support authors who do not have access to any other sources of funding that could be used to cover publication costs.
The program will provide no cost publication to several manuscripts per year.
Application process
Corresponding authors must apply for PFAP assistance prior to submitting an article to an ARVO journal. To apply, the corresponding author must submit:
- An application
- A support letter from a senior academic administrator (Chair, Head, Director, Dean, or similar) at the author's institution, describing the need for the grant and lack of funds. ARVO will not consider applications without a support letter that explicitly states there is no internal or external funding available to support publication. We recommend the letter be on institution letterhead stationery. Acceptable letter formats include a PDF attachment to the application form or a hard-copy letter mailed to:
ARVO
Attn: Journals Department
5515 Security Lane, Suite 500
Rockville, MD 20852 - When the corresponding author is a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow, it is necessary to demonstrate that their principal investigator (advisor, mentor) also has no access to funding, provided in the same support letter, or in a separate letter.
- Corresponding authors may also include information about funding available to other authors on the article, which will be taken into account by the Publications Committee when program resources become limited and choices between otherwise eligible applications need to be made.
Eligibility, criteria and general guidelines
- Corresponding authors must wait for notification of the outcome of their PFAP application before submitting an article to an ARVO journal. Articles already accepted for publication and in production are not eligible.
- PFAP assistance is available for any one of the three ARVO journals: IOVS, JOV and TVST.
- Only original research articles are eligible. Letters to the editor, author responses, editorials, research highlights, conference proceedings and similar submissions are not eligible for assistance.
- ARVO considers all applications regardless of the author's country of residence. There are no geographic restrictions or priorities.
- The program is not intended to fund researchers from large corporations that allow them to publish their work but choose not to provide funding.
- Membership in ARVO is not required.
- Corresponding authors are eligible to submit another application 12 months after a decision is received from the Publications Committee, or 12 months from when their funded article is accepted, whichever is later.
- ARVO retains the right to consider criteria/issues not addressed here on a case-by-case basis. This may include taking into account the number of applications recently approved from a particular institution when funding is limited.
- The author has one month to submit the paper to an ARVO journal from the time of official PFAP notification. The final award will be transferred to the journal if your paper is accepted for publication. If your paper is not accepted, the financial assistance will not be awarded.
Review process
- ARVO staff will check application materials are complete.
- ARVO staff will forward complete applications to the PFAP Committee.
- The committee will review applications as they come in.
- Applicants can expect a response in four to six weeks.
For further information regarding the PFAP, please email pubsgrant@arvo.org or call us at +1.240.221.2921. We would be happy to assist you in the application process or with any questions.