APC, Fees & Waivers

What the APC supports

The APC supports editorial-office administration, peer-review workflow infrastructure, production processing, article metadata preparation, online hosting, long-term platform maintenance and immediate open-access publication of the Version of Record. An APC is a publishing-service charge and is not a payment for editorial acceptance.

When payment is requested

Authors are not asked to pay an APC while a manuscript is under editorial assessment or peer review. Where a charge applies, an invoice or secure checkout is generated only after the manuscript has received a formal acceptance decision. The final checkout controls the payable amount, approved waiver or discount, currency conversion where offered, and applicable taxes.

Waivers and discounts

Eligible corresponding authors may request a waiver or discount before invoicing. Eligibility is assessed separately from editors and reviewers so that financial circumstances do not influence editorial decisions. A waiver request does not guarantee approval and must be confirmed in writing or in the billing portal before payment.

Typical supporting information

• Manuscript reference and corresponding-author details.
• Institution and country of primary affiliation.
• Funding status and, where relevant, evidence that publication charges are not covered.
• Any institutional, funder or publisher agreement relevant to the request.

Who may pay

The corresponding author, co-author, institution, research funder or another authorized payer may complete payment. Billing details should be entered accurately because they may appear on the invoice or receipt.

Taxes, invoices and receipts

Applicable taxes depend on billing information and legal requirements. A transaction receipt and invoice record should be retained by the payer. Never send card numbers, security codes or account passwords by email.

Refunds and billing corrections

Verified duplicate payments, processing errors and other eligible billing issues are handled under the platform Refund & Cancellation Policy. Publication charges already applied to completed services may be subject to the terms accepted at checkout.

Before you authorize payment

• Confirm the manuscript has a formal acceptance decision.
• Check the journal title, manuscript reference, payer details, currency and approved waiver or discount.
• Use only the secure payment route displayed by the platform.
• Retain the invoice and transaction receipt for institutional or funder records.