Article Processing Charges
Article Processing Charge (APC) Policy
Document control: Version 1.0 | Effective date 21 October 2026 | Approved by Publisher | Next scheduled review October 2027 | First version.
Article Processing Charges support publication services. Payment, ability to pay, waiver status, or choice of publication service must not influence peer review or the editorial decision. No fee guarantees acceptance. |
This policy explains the Article Processing Charges (APCs) applicable to open-access publication services. It is intended for use across all journals. Individual journal pages or special-issue notices may specify the applicable fee, currency, service option, taxes, discounts, or waiver arrangements for a particular title or article type.
An APC becomes payable only after a manuscript has successfully completed the journal’s editorial and peer-review process and has received a formal acceptance decision, unless an individual journal clearly states another permitted charge such as a submission fee. The APC does not purchase peer review, acceptance, favourable editorial treatment, or citation.
APC information for each journal shall be displayed on a dedicated, prominently linked page of the journal website (reachable in no more than two clicks from the home page and linked from the author guidelines and submission system), stating the amount, currency, when it is charged, all other charges, and the waiver policy. Where no charges apply, this shall be stated explicitly.
Purpose of the APC
Open-access publishing makes the final published article freely available online to readers without subscription barriers. APC revenue may be used to support legitimate publishing activities associated with the preparation, publication, hosting, preservation, discoverability, and dissemination of accepted articles.
Editorial administration and manuscript handling.
Peer-review administration and communication.
Copyediting, language editing where included, formatting, and typesetting.
Plagiarism/similarity screening and publication-quality checks.
Digital publication, online hosting, metadata preparation, and distribution.
Long-term platform maintenance, archiving, preservation, indexing support, and discoverability.
Article promotion and dissemination where offered by the journal.
Editorial Independence and No Guarantee of Acceptance
All manuscripts are evaluated on scholarly merit, relevance, originality, methodological soundness, ethical compliance, and conformity with the journal’s editorial policies. Editorial decisions are made independently of APC payment or the author’s ability to pay.
The APC is not a fee for acceptance.
No publication option guarantees acceptance or a positive peer-review outcome.
Payment information should not influence editors or reviewers responsible for the manuscript decision.
Requests for discounts or waivers, where available, should be handled separately from editorial assessment as far as practicable.
Special issues are subject to the same standards of editorial independence and peer review as regular issues.
Current APC
Open-access publication has one standard charge. The amounts below are in United States dollars (USD); corresponding authors in India are charged in Indian rupees (INR).
Charge | USD | INR (India) |
Open-access package, list price | USD 700 | INR 15,000 |
Minimum, with every optional service removed | USD 300 | INR 7,000 |
The package always includes gold open-access publication, DOI registration, a publication certificate, publication-manager support and an author soft copy. Optional services, such as a short video abstract, an image abstract or copy-editing and layout, can each be removed, and the charge falls with them to the minimum above and never below it. Work out your own figure with the APC calculator.
These are estimates before any country-based waiver, institutional agreement or GST. The final amount is on your invoice, after acceptance.
Which optional services an author keeps is recorded only in the finance module of the submission system and is not visible to handling editors or reviewers. All articles receive identical peer review.
How the Publication Process Works
Submission and initial checks: The manuscript is screened for scope, completeness, basic policy compliance, and suitability for peer review.
Peer review: The manuscript undergoes the journal’s applicable peer-review process. Reviewer comments and editorial requirements must be addressed satisfactorily.
Editorial decision: Acceptance, revision, or rejection is based solely on editorial and scholarly considerations.
APC notification: After formal acceptance, the corresponding author is informed of the applicable APC and payment instructions.
Production: Once required publication formalities are completed, the accepted manuscript proceeds to editing, typesetting, proofing, quality control, and online publication.
Publication: The final article is published online under the journal’s applicable open-access and licensing terms.
Publication Timelines
Any stated publication timeline is an operational target and should be interpreted as an estimate. It may begin only after the conditions stated by the journal have been met, such as final acceptance, receipt of required files, completion of author forms, resolution of ethical or technical queries, and payment where payment is required before production.
Authors should be informed if a material delay occurs. Where appropriate, authors may contact the editorial office for an update or exercise rights available under the journal’s withdrawal policy.
What the APC May Include
Manuscript administration and editorial workflow support.
Peer-review management.
Technical checks and similarity screening using appropriate tools.
Copyediting and language polishing where included in the selected service.
Formatting and typesetting of the accepted manuscript.
Proof generation and author proof corrections.
Online publication and hosting.
Metadata preparation and dissemination to relevant services where applicable.
Digital preservation and platform maintenance.
Article-level promotion where offered.
The use of any specific similarity-detection or editorial tool may change over time. The journal should avoid presenting a particular commercial tool as a guarantee of research integrity or originality.
Other Charges and Optional Services
Any charge in addition to the APC—such as submission fees, page charges, colour charges, print charges, language-editing charges, withdrawal charges, or other supplementary fees—must be clearly disclosed before the author commits to publication. If no additional fee applies, this should also be stated clearly by the individual journal.
Optional services must not affect peer-review outcomes or editorial decisions.
Waivers, Discounts, and Institutional Arrangements
Where a journal offers APC waivers, discounts, membership benefits, institutional agreements, or promotional reductions, the eligibility criteria, amount or percentage, application procedure, and timing of the request should be clearly communicated on the relevant journal or publisher page.
Authors should request a waiver or discount at the stage specified by the journal.
Waiver or discount requests should be handled confidentially and, as far as practicable, separately from editorial decision-making.
A waiver request must not disadvantage a manuscript during peer review.
Approval or refusal of a waiver does not imply acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.
Full waivers shall be available to corresponding authors based in countries classified as Group A under Research4Life (low-income), and discounts of at least 50% to Group B (lower-middle-income) countries; discretionary hardship waivers are available to any author on request.
Waiver decisions are made by the publisher's finance office, not by editors, and are not communicated to reviewers.
The APC applicable to a manuscript is the amount published on the journal website on the date of submission; changes to APCs take effect for new submissions only and are announced with at least 30 days' notice.
Invoicing, Currency, and Taxes
The applicable fee, currency, invoice details, and payment instructions will be communicated to the corresponding author or designated payer. Any applicable taxes, bank charges, currency-conversion charges, or statutory levies should be stated on the invoice or payment instructions where relevant.
Authors should verify institutional billing requirements before payment and provide accurate billing information to avoid delays.
Invoices are issued only from the publisher's official domain and payment portal; the journal never requests payment through personal e-mail, messaging apps or third-party agents. Authors should verify any unexpected payment request with the editorial office.
Applicable Goods and Services Tax (GST) or other statutory taxes shall be shown separately on the invoice; the publisher's GSTIN/registration and registered address shall appear on every invoice.
Refunds, Withdrawal, and Non-Payment
Refund and withdrawal conditions should be communicated transparently. Because costs may be incurred once production services begin, refund eligibility may depend on the stage at which a request is received. Any journal-specific refund or withdrawal charge must be clearly disclosed in advance.
Where the publisher’s policy is to withhold publication until payment has cleared, this should be communicated to the author after acceptance. Non-payment must not retrospectively alter the scholarly decision on an already accepted manuscript; however, publication may be held in accordance with the disclosed payment policy.
Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Actions
Payment of an APC does not prevent the journal from correcting, retracting, or otherwise updating an article when required by publication-ethics policies. APCs do not purchase immunity from editorial action. Decisions concerning corrections and retractions are based on the scholarly record and applicable ethics procedures.
Special Issues
Special-issue manuscripts must follow the same core standards of peer review, ethics, editorial independence, authorship, conflict-of-interest disclosure, and research integrity as regular submissions. Guest editors, editorial board members, sponsors, or fee arrangements must not determine acceptance on financial grounds.
Special-issue APCs, any sponsorship and any revenue-sharing with guest editors or conference organisers shall be disclosed on the special-issue page. Guest editors shall not handle waiver or payment matters.
Author Responsibilities
Review the applicable APC and any other fees before submission or before committing to publication.
Provide accurate billing and correspondence information.
Ensure that all co-authors are aware of the applicable publication charge.
Arrange institutional or funder approval where required.
Pay only against official payment instructions or invoices issued through authorized channels.
Retain payment records and notify the publisher promptly of any payment discrepancy.
Understand that payment does not guarantee acceptance and cannot substitute for required revisions or ethical compliance.
Transparency and Best-Practice Commitment
This policy is designed to support transparent scholarly-publishing practice. Author fees should be easy to find, clearly described before submission, and independent of editorial decision-making. Journals should also clearly disclose any waiver arrangements and any other author-facing charges.
The policy is informed by the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), together with COPE guidance on author fees and waivers. It also reflects the OASPA Best Practices for Open Access Publishers, cOAlition S price and service transparency principles, DOAJ application criteria on fees and waivers, and the fee-related quality checks applied by Clarivate (Web of Science) and Elsevier (Scopus CSAB).
APC Transparency Checklist
APC amount and currency are clearly stated.
All additional author charges are disclosed, or the journal states that no other charges apply.
The point at which payment becomes due is stated.
Editorial decisions are explicitly independent of fees and waiver status.
No acceptance guarantee is made.
Any publication timelines are presented as indicative, evidence-based targets rather than guaranteed acceptance deadlines.
Waiver/discount eligibility and procedure are disclosed where available.
Refund, withdrawal, tax, and payment conditions are made available where applicable.
Special issues follow the same quality and ethics standards as regular issues.
APC page is reachable within two clicks of the journal home page and linked from author guidelines.
The optional services an author keeps are hidden from editors and reviewers.
Waiver criteria (country-based and hardship) and the decision-maker are published.
Tax treatment, invoicing entity and official payment channels are stated.
Policy note: Individual journals may publish journal-specific APC amounts or conditions. Where a journal-specific APC page differs from this common policy, the journal should clearly identify the applicable charge and conditions before submission.
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