Taylor & Francis is celebrating 15 years of its Special Terms for Authors and Researchers (STAR) initiative, a unique program providing free access to journal articles for researchers in over 100 countries who are not affiliated with academic institutions or research organizations.
Launched to address global research inequities, STAR ensures that scholars in low-resource settings can access subscription-based journal content that would otherwise be inaccessible, complementing the growing body of open access literature. The scheme serves a broad audience, including independent researchers, retired academics, and professionals working for non-governmental organizations, helping them to stay connected to current research and contribute meaningfully to global academic discourse.
Through STAR, researchers can access journal content to enhance their own publications, strengthen references, and improve submission outcomes, thus enabling broader participation in scholarly publishing. Over the past decade and a half, more than 6,000 individuals have benefited from the program.
Taylor & Francis is currently inviting past STAR participants to share their experiences through a new survey, aiming to highlight the program’s long-term impact.
The initiative forms part of a wider commitment by Taylor & Francis to support inclusive access to research. In addition to STAR, the publisher participates in global development efforts such as Research4Life and the National Library of Medicine’s Emergency Access Initiative, and provides author support through programs like Rising Scholars (formerly AuthorAID), as well as through open access fee waivers, training workshops, and editorial services tailored to the needs of researchers in the Global South.
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