A detailed answer to the question "Who charges no fees? How do they survive?" may be found here: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/11-02-06.htm#nof

A detailed answer to the question "Who charges no fees? How do they survive?" may be found here: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/11-02-06.htm#nofee http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/11-02-06.htm#n... Note also the linked studies. Summary: the majority of OA journals don't charge fees. "in practice [PLoS fee waivers are] rare": well, among the people I've spoken with, 100% who asked for a waiver got one. So at present it's apparently not difficult to get a waiver. And when you say "they'd have to change their policy" that simply does not follow. What is true is that they'd have to figure out some way of funding it. Eliminating fee waivers is just one approach. But there are many other ways it could be funded. What would matter in that instance is how committed the people running PLoS are to the waiver.