APC Waiver and Refund Policy

Journal of Accounting and Management (JAM)  |  e-ISSN 3048-345X

1. Scope and Relationship to the APC Page

This policy governs requests for a full or partial waiver of an applicable Article Processing Charge (APC), correction of an incorrect payment, and refunds after JAM has received funds. It does not set the APC amount, payment due date, invoicing method, payment channel, or services covered by the charge.

2. Governing Principles

• Editorial independence: financial administration is separated from peer review and editorial judgment.
• Equal scholarly standards: waived, reduced-fee, and fully paid articles receive the same screening, peer-review criteria, ethics checks, production standards, licensing, and discoverability.
• Confidentiality: financial information is limited to designated administrative personnel and is not disclosed to reviewers.
• Consistency and proportionality: comparable requests are assessed under comparable criteria, while relevant individual circumstances may be considered.
• No guarantee: a waiver, reduction, or payment never guarantees acceptance, favorable review, expedited handling, publication in a particular issue, or citation.
• Traceable decisions: requests, supporting information, approvals, denials, payments, and refunds are documented in the journal’s confidential administrative record.

3. Eligibility for a Waiver or Reduction

A full or partial waiver may be considered when the corresponding author demonstrates that no reasonable publication funding is available and paying the applicable APC would cause genuine hardship. Relevant circumstances may include:

• the research received no grant or publication allocation and the authors’ institutions do not provide APC support;
• the corresponding author is an unfunded student, independent researcher, early-career researcher, or scholar working in a resource-constrained setting;
• documented economic hardship, disaster, conflict, displacement, or another exceptional circumstance prevents payment;
• the work has substantial public-interest value but no practicable source of publication funding; or
• another documented situation in which a full fee would create an inequitable barrier to publication.

Country, nationality, institutional reputation, academic rank, or personal status alone does not automatically determine the outcome. JAM may consider the authors’ combined funding resources, institutional support, grant terms, and other relevant evidence. A waiver is not an entitlement and is subject to available journal support.

4. When and How to Request a Waiver

A request should be made as early as possible—preferably at initial submission—and must be submitted before any payment is made. If an invoice is issued before a decision on the request, the author should notify the journal immediately and should not pay until the waiver decision is communicated.

Authors must not include sensitive financial information in the manuscript, reviewer response, or public metadata. The journal will not request passwords, PINs, full bank credentials, or unnecessary identity documents.

5. Assessment and Decision

1. Administrative review: a designated publisher or journal finance administrator checks completeness, funding information, and available waiver support.
2. Separation from academic judgment: reviewers are not informed, and the academic editor does not use financial status in evaluating the manuscript.
3. Clarification: the administrator may request limited additional information necessary to make a consistent decision.
4. Written outcome: JAM aims to communicate an approval, partial approval, denial, or request for information within ten working days after receiving a complete request.

An approval states the waived or reduced amount, any conditions, and the period for which it remains valid. It applies only to the identified manuscript and cannot be transferred. A denial will provide a concise reason. When feasible, authors may request reconsideration based on new evidence before payment.

6. Refund Eligibility

A refund may be approved when JAM verifies that it received money that should be returned, including:

• a duplicate payment or amount paid above the valid invoice;
• payment made against an incorrect or cancelled invoice because of a journal or publisher administrative error;
• payment received when no APC was due under the applicable policy or an approved waiver;
• the journal is unable to publish an accepted article for a reason attributable to the journal or publisher and cannot provide the agreed publication service; or
• another exceptional case in which retaining the payment would be demonstrably inequitable.

7. Circumstances Normally Not Eligible for Refund

Subject to applicable law and any written invoice terms, a refund is not normally provided merely because:

• an author changes their mind, requests withdrawal, fails to complete required revisions or proof corrections, or stops responding after publication services have begun;
• the author disagrees with lawful copyediting, layout, issue assignment, indexing schedules, citation outcomes, or the time taken by third-party services;
• a published article is later corrected, retracted, or removed because of an author error, ethics breach, legal violation, or unreliable content;
• a bank, card provider, payment platform, currency conversion, or other third party charged a fee not received by JAM; or
• the payment was made through an unofficial channel or to a person not identified in a valid journal invoice.

Manuscript withdrawal is governed separately by the Manuscript Withdrawal Policy. This refund policy does not create a withdrawal right or penalty and does not replace that policy.

8. Refund Request and Processing

A refund request should normally be submitted within thirty calendar days after the duplicate or incorrect payment, cancellation, or other event giving rise to the request. Use the subject line “APC Refund Request” and provide the manuscript ID, article title, invoice number, payer name, payment date, amount, transaction reference, reason, and valid proof of payment.

9. Payment Security and Misrepresentation

• Authors must pay only through the method stated in a valid official invoice or on the current APC page.
• JAM is not responsible for transfers to personal accounts, unofficial agents, altered QR codes, or instructions that cannot be verified through the journal.
• Suspected fraud, phishing, or unauthorized instructions should be reported immediately before further payment.
• Materially false waiver or refund information may result in cancellation of the financial concession and assessment under the Publication Ethics Policy, with due process.
• Authors should contact JAM before initiating a chargeback so that duplicate, incorrect, or disputed transactions can be investigated.

10. Appeals, Privacy, and Records

An author may request reconsideration when a waiver or refund decision contains a material factual error, overlooked evidence, conflict of interest, or serious procedural defect. If unresolved, the matter may proceed under JAM’s Appeals and Complaints Policy. A reconsideration request does not guarantee a different result.

Financial and personal data are collected only as necessary for assessment, invoicing, verification, accounting, audit, legal compliance, and fraud prevention. Access is restricted, and records are retained under applicable institutional, financial, and privacy requirements.

11. Policy Boundaries