The Global Equitable Membership (GEM) program is an official initiative by Crossref designed to improve membership equitability and accessibility in scholarly publishing. It offers 100% relief from annual membership fees and content/DOI registration fees for publishers located in eligible nations (78 qualifying countries as of 2026, based on World Bank IDA and UN LDC criteria). Eligible members pay $0 in Crossref membership and DOI registration fees.

Waived by Crossref: 100% of Crossref annual membership fees and all content/DOI registration fees across all record types.
Not Waived: Crossref is a metadata and DOI registry, not a web host. Server infrastructure, OJS system administration, technical support, server security, and optional add-ons (such as Similarity Check) are third-party operational services not covered by Crossref.

ID Host is an initiative by IndexAll Data LLC created to solve the technical skill barrier faced by scholarly publishers in developing nations. While the Crossref GEM program waives DOI fees, many publishers in eligible countries lack the technical skills, server infrastructure, and OJS system administration knowledge required to host and manage an online journal. ID Host bridges this gap by offering fully managed OJS server hosting, technical setup, security maintenance, and automated DOI integration at low, heavily discounted pricing specifically tailored for publishers in GEM-eligible nations.

Eligibility is based on the publisher's country (derived from World Bank IDA and UN Least Developed Countries lists, reviewed annually by Crossref). As of 2026, 78 nations qualify—including countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, and Latin America (e.g. Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, DRC, Yemen, Cameroon, etc.). You can verify your country's eligibility instantly using our interactive GEM Country Checker tool.

Open Journal Systems (OJS) is a free, open-source journal management and publishing system developed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP). It is the global standard for academic publishing. ID Host sets up and maintains a fully configured OJS instance for each hosted journal, pre-configured with DOI registration, author submission workflows, and indexation plugins.

Simply complete the Journal Hosting Application form. You will need your journal's ISSN (or E-ISSN), publisher name, a desired journal acronym, and contact email. The application takes under 5 minutes. After submission, our team reviews your application within 2–5 business days.

An ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is the unique identifier for your journal. You can apply for a free ISSN through your national ISSN centre (visit issn.org to find your country's centre). The application is usually free and takes 1–4 weeks. You can apply to ID Host before receiving your ISSN, but it must be confirmed before your OJS instance is activated.

Most applications are reviewed within 2–5 business days. GEM-eligible applications are prioritized. Once approved, you will receive an email with your OJS login credentials, journal URL, and a verification badge shortcode to embed on your own website. Standard fee applications require payment before activation.

Yes — you may submit your application with a placeholder ISSN and update it once issued. However, your hosting will only be fully activated (and DOI registration enabled) once a valid ISSN is confirmed. We recommend applying for your ISSN before or at the same time as submitting the hosting application.

Basic Plan: OJS hosting, server management, uptime monitoring, and basic support.
Standard Plan: Everything in Basic + DOI registration infrastructure (Crossref), verification badge, and metrics card shortcodes.
Premium Plan: Everything in Standard + Priority 24/7 technical support + Indexation Qualification Review (DOAJ, Scopus readiness) — all included at a flat rate.

Yes. You can upgrade from Basic to Standard, or from Standard to Premium at any time. Simply contact our support team via the Support Tickets portal with your journal ISSN and desired plan. The price difference will be invoiced on a pro-rata basis.

The Indexa Similarity Check is an annual plagiarism and content similarity screening service powered by Indexa. For $50/year, submitted manuscripts in your journal go through automated similarity analysis against a global academic corpus. This is a valuable quality signal for indexers like DOAJ and Scopus.

All payments are processed securely through PayPal. When your application is approved and an invoice is generated, you will receive an email with a link to your invoice page. From there you can pay using your PayPal account or any major credit/debit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) — no PayPal account required.

No. The price shown on your invoice is the total you pay. GEM-eligible publishers pay nothing for hosting. Optional add-ons (Priority Support, Indexation Review, Similarity Check) are clearly itemized on the invoice before payment.

GEM eligibility is evaluated at the time of application based on Crossref's annual list. If your country's status changes in subsequent years, we will notify you in advance of any fee adjustments. We always give a minimum 60-day notice before any pricing changes take effect.

Yes. Custom domain mapping is available as part of the Priority Technical Support add-on. Your journal can be accessible at both the default id-host.org/gemid/index.php/acronym URL and your own domain (e.g. journal.youruniversity.edu). DNS setup assistance is included.

Upon activation, you receive a shortcode like [idhost_badge id="X"]. This works on any WordPress site. For non-WordPress sites, a plain HTML embed snippet is also available — simply contact support with your ISSN to request it. The badge links to your live verification certificate and updates automatically.

ID Host maintains a 99.8%+ uptime SLA for all hosted journals, backed by real-time server monitoring. You can view your journal's live uptime statistics and response speed using the Hosting Metrics shortcode [idhost_metrics issn="XXXX-XXXX"] or the public Metrics page.

If you are a publisher of an OJS journal (basic or premium) hosted on ID Host, you can request sponsorship to waive your operational and scanning fees.

Step-by-step process:

1. Navigate to the Publisher Portal and click on Request Sponsorship under your active journal details.
2. Choose a sponsor from the list of registered sponsors (who have opted to fund journals in your country or category).
3. Enter a brief description explaining why your journal needs funding and click Submit Request.
4. Once submitted, the sponsor will be notified to review your request. If approved, the sponsor pays for your journal's annual fees, and your OJS plan is instantly upgraded/extended at no cost to you.
5. If there are no sponsors matching your country/category, you can also join the general waiting list so any new registered sponsor can find you.

Indexa Similarity Check provides automated plagiarism analysis of submitted manuscripts. This is highly regarded by indexers (DOAJ, Scopus) as it proves your editorial rigor.

Key details:

• Sponsorship coverage: If a sponsor is funding your journal, they cover the annual similarity check cost ($50/year).
• Uptime metrics: Each check runs a validation on the academic corpus and updates your live GEM certificate with plagiarism validation stamps.

Corporate and academic sponsors can fund scientific journals to increase their corporate social responsibility (CSR) footprint and publish announcements.

Step-by-step process:

1. Complete the Become a Sponsor form on the Community page. Provide your organization logo, website URL, and select the specific Countries and Publisher categories you wish to fund.
2. Once approved by the administrator, your name will appear on the global Sponsor Directory, and matching publishers can send you funding requests.
3. Go to the Sponsor Dashboard to view pending requests from journals or browse the Journal Directory to sponsor journals directly.
4. Select the journal you wish to sponsor, choose a sponsorship period (e.g. 1 year), and complete the payment using PayPal.
5. The sponsored journal receives an instant fee waiver, and their live validation certificate is updated to show your logo as their official sponsor.

Sponsors have the ability to run short announcements (text and logo) that appear on news tickers, tickers ribbons, and widgets across the network.

Announcement cost & rules:

• Free: If you are actively sponsoring at least one journal, you can create and display short announcements for 100% free!
• Paid: If you are not sponsoring any active journals, announcements are paid. The simulation handles payments securely through the integrated billing flow.

Step-by-step process:

1. Log in and access the Sponsor Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Announcements Manager and click Create Announcement.
3. Enter a title, short description text, logo upload, and duration.
4. If you have sponsored at least one active journal, click Activate Announcement to publish it immediately at no cost.
5. If not, you will be redirected to the secure simulation payment portal to complete your activation payment.
6. The announcement is instantly enqueued and published to footer tickers and sidebar widgets.

Country Ambassadors represent the GEM program locally, assisting regional publishers in meeting indexation criteria and finding sponsors.

Step-by-step process:

1. Navigate to the Community page and fill out the Apply as Ambassador form.
2. Select your target Country and submit a brief description of your academic credentials and experience in journal indexing (DOAJ, Scopus).
3. The Admin panel reviews applications. Upon approval, you are added to the Ambassadors Directory for your country.
4. Publishers in your region can contact you directly for editorial mentoring, OJS setup guidance, and similarity index diagnostics.