Purpose and Scope
This policy establishes publisher-wide transparency requirements for article processing charges, publication fees, waivers, discounts, and related author-facing charges. The actual amount and structure of charges are journal-specific and must be published accurately by each journal.
Treata does not assume that every journal charges an APC or that every journal is fee-free. Financial information must reflect the model actually in operation.
Fee Transparency
Where a journal charges authors, its public information should identify the type of charge, amount, currency, stage at which it becomes payable, and what the charge covers. Mandatory charges should not be revealed only after authors have invested substantially in the editorial process.
Where taxes, banking charges, optional services, page charges, color charges, or other costs may apply, the journal should explain them where relevant rather than allowing the APC label to obscure additional mandatory fees.
No Editorial Advantage from Payment
Payment, ability to pay, institutional purchasing power, waiver status, or commercial value must not improperly influence scientific assessment, peer review, acceptance, correction, or retraction decisions.
Editorial staff should not be incentivized to accept individual manuscripts because they generate publication revenue.
Timing of Charges
Journal pages should state when charges are assessed and invoiced. Where fees become payable only after acceptance, this should be stated clearly. Submission or review fees should be identified separately if a journal actually uses them.
Authors should not be asked to interpret ambiguous language to determine whether submission itself creates a financial obligation.
Waivers and Discounts
Where a journal offers waivers or discounts, eligibility criteria, application timing, required information, and decision responsibility should be communicated clearly enough for authors to understand the process.
Waiver requests should be separated from scientific editorial judgment where practicable, and editors should not be pressured to change decisions because a waiver has been requested or granted.
Institutional and Funder Arrangements
Agreements with institutions, consortia, societies, funders, or other organizations may cover or reduce author charges. Journals should avoid implying universal eligibility when an agreement applies only to defined authors, institutions, dates, or article types.
Authors remain responsible for confirming whether their funding arrangement covers the relevant charge.
Refunds and Withdrawals
A journal should state whether and when paid charges may be refundable, particularly in cases of duplicate payment, production failure, withdrawal, or administrative error. A refund policy should distinguish author-requested withdrawal from publisher or journal error.
Retraction after legitimate publication does not automatically imply that a publication fee should be refunded, because retraction is an action on the scholarly record rather than reversal of services already provided.
Currency, Invoicing and Payment Security
Invoices and payment instructions should identify the legitimate payee and relevant journal or publisher relationship. Authors should be alert to fraudulent payment requests and should verify unexpected changes in banking or payment instructions through an official channel.
Financial records should be handled according to applicable legal, accounting, privacy, and security requirements.
Changes to Fees
Fee changes should be published with an effective date and should state how manuscripts already submitted or accepted will be treated. Journals should avoid retroactively imposing a new mandatory charge on authors without clear prior notice or a legitimate contractual basis.
Historical fee information should remain recoverable internally where needed to resolve disputes about earlier submissions.
Journal Configuration and Version Control
The transparency principles in this policy are publisher mandatory. Each journal must configure its actual APC amount, currency, timing, waiver and discount arrangements, other charges, and refund rules where applicable.
No fee, waiver, or discount should be invented for a journal whose financial model has not been formally established. Material changes should be versioned and dated.
Version Control
Version 1.0. This page is the canonical publisher-level text for the current version. Material revisions should be versioned and dated, while superseded versions remain identifiable so historical applicability can be determined.