Article Processing Charges & Waivers

Standard APC

The standard article processing charge is US$150 per accepted article. This price applies across the journal portfolio unless a journal clearly publishes a different prospective schedule. The applicable amount must be disclosed before submission and honoured unless reduced by a waiver or discount.

When the APC becomes payable

There is no submission fee. The APC becomes payable only after the manuscript has received a final editorial acceptance decision. Authors must not be invoiced or asked to pay before acceptance.

What the APC supports

The APC supports publishing operations such as manuscript-system administration, editorial-office support, production, copyediting or formatting as specified by the journal, hosting, digital preservation arrangements, metadata and DOI administration where applicable, website maintenance, security, customer support and long-term stewardship of the published record. Payment is for publishing services following acceptance, not for a favourable peer-review outcome.

Editorial separation

Handling editors and reviewers must not be told whether an author requested or received a waiver, or about the author’s payment status, while deciding acceptance. A separate finance or administrative role manages waiver requests confidentially. If roles overlap, assign the scholarly decision to an independent editor. Finance staff must not direct acceptance or rejection based on payment.

Waivers and discounts

The waiver framework is applied consistently through a confidential administrative process:

• 100% waiver for demonstrated inability to pay. Any separate country-based programme applies only under its published eligibility criteria; country of residence alone does not currently establish automatic eligibility.

• Partial waivers of up to 50% for demonstrated financial hardship where a full waiver is not warranted.

• Discretionary full waivers for invited articles or exceptional editorial circumstances. Such waivers do not guarantee acceptance or lower the scholarly standard.

• Invited-article or special-issue waivers require documented authorisation and must never be conditioned on a favourable editorial outcome.

Requests should normally be made at submission or before acceptance through the confidential administrative channel billing@eldranacademic.com. Requesting a waiver does not affect peer review. Only proportionate evidence of funding circumstances should be requested; unnecessary sensitive financial records should not be collected.

Taxes, invoices and payment methods

An invoice identifies the payee, manuscript, journal, amount, currency, applicable taxes, due date and payment instructions. Any mandatory tax or charge must be disclosed before submission. Authors are responsible for charges imposed by their own bank or currency-conversion provider.

Refunds

Subject to mandatory legal rights, the following refund rules apply:

• Full refund for duplicate payments or payments collected in error, after verification.

• Full refund if Eldran Academic cancels publication for an administrative reason unrelated to author misconduct.

• No automatic refund after production has substantially commenced if the author voluntarily withdraws an accepted article. The Publisher will review the work already performed and the circumstances of the withdrawal.

• No refund where publication is halted because of established misconduct or a serious breach of the author agreement, subject to applicable mandatory rights. An allegation alone is not an established finding.

• Exceptional cases may be reviewed individually. Refund enquiries should identify the manuscript, invoice and reason and be sent to billing@eldranacademic.com.

No hidden charges

Mandatory charges must not first appear after acceptance if they were not disclosed to the author before submission. Optional paid services must be clearly identified as optional and must not affect editorial treatment.