Article Processing Charges

When the Charge Applies

Authors are not charged when submitting a manuscript or while the manuscript is undergoing editorial screening and peer review. The Article Processing Charge applies only after a manuscript has:

1. Completed administrative and editorial screening;
2. Completed independent peer review;
3. Satisfied the required revisions;
4. Received a formal acceptance decision; and
5. Entered the production stage.

Purpose of the Charge

The Article Processing Charge contributes to the costs of editorial administration, online journal management, copyediting, language checking, reference and metadata verification, layout, digital publication, platform maintenance, digital preservation, and open-access dissemination.

Payment does not purchase acceptance, favorable peer review, accelerated review, citation, or special editorial treatment.

Editorial Independence

Waiver or Reduction

Authors who do not have access to institutional, project, organizational, or personal funding may request a full or partial waiver of the Article Processing Charge.

A waiver request must be submitted by the corresponding author after the manuscript has been formally accepted and before an invoice is issued. The request should briefly explain the authors’ funding circumstances and identify whether institutional or project support is available.

Waiver decisions are made separately from editorial and peer-review decisions. Editors and reviewers involved in evaluating the manuscript will not be informed of the request unless their involvement is necessary for administrative reasons.

A waiver request will not affect the acceptance decision, editorial treatment, publication order, or publication schedule. Approval depends on the journal’s available resources and is not automatic.

Information submitted in support of a waiver request will be treated confidentially and used only for administrative assessment.

Payment Procedure

• Payment instructions are issued only after a formal acceptance decision.
• Payment must be made only through the official account or payment method stated in the journal’s acceptance correspondence.
• Authors must not transfer publication fees to personal accounts or unauthorized third parties.
• JSAI does not authorize agents, brokers, or intermediaries to guarantee acceptance or arrange publication.
• The corresponding author is responsible for verifying the authenticity of payment instructions.
• Proof of payment and relevant official correspondence should be retained by the corresponding author.

Refund Policy

No Article Processing Charge is collected before formal acceptance. Once an accepted article has entered copyediting, language editing, layout, metadata registration, DOI processing, proofreading, or online production, the charge is normally non-refundable because publication services have already commenced.

A full or partial refund may be considered when payment was duplicated or transferred in error, or when publication cannot proceed because of a journal-side administrative, editorial, or technical failure that is not attributable to the authors. Any refund decision will be documented and communicated through the journal’s official correspondence channel.

A refund will normally not be granted when an article is withdrawn, corrected, or retracted because of an author error, authorship dispute, undisclosed duplicate submission, plagiarism, data irregularity, ethical violation, copyright problem, or other author-related cause.

Changes to Publication Charges

Any change to the Article Processing Charge will be announced publicly on the journal website. The applicable charge is the amount stated in the journal policy at the time the manuscript receives formal acceptance, unless otherwise communicated transparently to the author before payment.