APC Waiver And Refund Policy

Transparent and Equitable Author Charges

APC Waiver and Refund Policy

Multidisciplinary Journals (MJ) | e-ISSN 3047-8499

Multidisciplinary Journals (MJ) seeks to ensure that inability to pay does not create an unnecessary barrier to publication. Eligible authors may request a full or partial APC waiver. This policy is the journal's authoritative source for waiver eligibility, application procedures, decisions, and refunds. Waiver and refund administration is confidential and independent of scholarly evaluation.

Submission and reviewIDR 0

APC after acceptanceIDR 150,000

Waiver optionsFull or partial

Editorial influenceNone

1. Scope and Policy Boundaries

This page governs only APC waiver, reduction, and refund administration. The applicable fee amount, payment timing, items covered by the APC, payment form, and verification procedure are stated in the Article Processing Charge (APC) Policy.

Manuscript withdrawal is governed by the Manuscript Withdrawal Policy.
Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are governed by the relevant post-publication policies.
A disputed waiver or refund decision may be reviewed under the Appeals and Complaints Policy.

2. Waiver Eligibility

A full or partial waiver may be considered when the corresponding author demonstrates that the authors do not have reasonable access to institutional, project, sponsor, employer, grant, or personal publication funding. Relevant circumstances may include:

Eligibility Ground	Information Normally Required
No publication funding	A concise confirmation that funding is unavailable to all authors through institutions, grants, projects, sponsors, or employers.
Severe financial hardship	A brief explanation. The journal will not request unnecessary sensitive personal or financial information.
Humanitarian or emergency circumstances	An explanation of how disaster, displacement, conflict, institutional disruption, or another serious event prevents access to funding.
Approved support arrangement	Reference to a documented journal subsidy, institutional agreement, or editorial initiative that expressly provides APC support.

No automatic entitlement.
Meeting an eligibility ground allows a request to be considered but does not guarantee approval. Decisions depend on the complete circumstances of all authors and the journal's available publication support. An approved waiver is valid only when confirmed in writing.

3. When and How to Request a Waiver

The corresponding author should submit a waiver request at initial submission through the OJS Comments for the Editor field or the journal's official contact page. A request may also be made before the APC invoice is issued when circumstances change during review. Authors should not wait until after payment.

A complete request must state:

the manuscript title and OJS submission identification number;
the corresponding author's name, affiliation, and registered email address;
whether a full waiver or partial reduction is requested;
the relevant eligibility ground and a concise explanation;
whether publication funding is available to any co-author; and
any limited supporting document reasonably necessary to verify the request.

A waiver request is free of charge. Authors must not provide passwords, national identity documents, bank credentials, or unrelated sensitive information. The journal may request limited clarification when the submitted information is incomplete or inconsistent.

4. Assessment and Waiver Decision

Requests are handled administratively by the journal or publisher and, where practicable, separately from scholarly evaluation.
Reviewers are not informed of the request, supporting circumstances, or outcome.
The decision may approve a full waiver, approve a partial reduction, request limited clarification, or decline the request with a concise reason.
The outcome is communicated in writing through OJS or the registered correspondence email.
An approved waiver or reduction must appear in the official invoice or written payment instruction. Informal or verbal assurances are not sufficient.

5. Editorial Independence and Confidentiality

No Editorial InfluencePayment status, inability to pay, a waiver request, or a waiver decision does not affect desk screening, reviewer selection, review reports, revision requirements, acceptance, rejection, publication priority, or issue placement.

Limited Administrative AccessWaiver and refund records are confidential. Information is shared only with personnel who need it to assess, process, audit, or lawfully report the transaction.

6. Refund Eligibility

Refunds apply only to verified funds actually received for an MJ manuscript. Normal treatment is as follows:

Circumstance	Normal Treatment
Duplicate or excess payment	The verified duplicate or excess amount will be refunded.
Payment before acceptance or without a valid invoice	A verified payment received when no valid charge was due will normally be refunded after investigation.
Incorrect amount caused by journal administration	The verified overpayment will be refunded or, with written agreement, credited against the correct invoice.
Publication cancelled by the journal for administrative or technical reasons	A full refund will normally be issued when cancellation is not caused by author misconduct or a material policy breach.
Waiver approved after payment because of journal error	The amount covered by the written waiver will be refunded.
Author withdrawal after payment	Refund eligibility depends on the production stage and documented non-recoverable work. This assessment does not replace the Manuscript Withdrawal Policy.

7. Circumstances Not Automatically Eligible for a Refund

a change in funding source, employer, affiliation, or personal circumstances after a valid APC has been paid;
dissatisfaction with routine copyediting, layout, scheduling, indexing, citation performance, readership, or impact;
a correction, expression of concern, or retraction after publication;
withdrawal requested after production has begun or after publication;
revocation of acceptance because of substantiated plagiarism, duplicate submission, data fabrication or falsification, authorship abuse, undisclosed competing interests, manipulated peer review, or another material policy breach; or
a retrospective waiver request made only after payment, unless a journal error or exceptional documented circumstance is established.

Each case is assessed on its evidence. The absence of an automatic entitlement does not prevent a full or partial refund when fairness, exceptional documented circumstances, or an acknowledged journal error justifies it.

8. How to Request a Refund

The payer or corresponding author should normally submit a request within 30 calendar days of the payment or of becoming aware of the circumstance giving rise to the request. Use the OJS discussion attached to the manuscript or the official journal contact page.

The request must include:

the manuscript title and OJS submission identification number;
the invoice or official payment instruction;
valid proof showing the payment amount, date, and transaction reference;
the reason for the request and relevant supporting evidence; and
the payer's verified name and contact information.

Refund destination details will be requested through a secure official channel after identity verification. Authors must never send passwords, one-time passwords, card security codes, or unrestricted banking credentials.

9. Verification, Decision, and Refund

Acknowledgement: a sufficiently identified request is normally acknowledged within seven working days.

Verification: the journal matches the request to the manuscript, invoice, payment, payer, and relevant production or administrative record.

Assessment: the outcome may be a full refund, partial refund, credit with written consent, or no refund.

Reasoned decision: the journal aims to communicate an outcome within 30 working days after sufficient information is received. Complex banking, fraud, ethics, authorship, or institutional matters may require longer.

Refund destination and record: an approved refund is normally returned to the original verified payer through the original channel where practicable. The transaction and completion status are retained as confidential administrative records.

10. Review of a Decision

An author or payer who identifies a material factual error, procedural irregularity, unmanaged conflict of interest, or inconsistent application of this policy may request review under the Appeals and Complaints Policy. The request should identify the challenged decision, explain the specific concern, and provide supporting evidence. Review of a financial-administration decision does not affect the scholarly assessment of the manuscript.

Submit a Waiver or Refund Request Use the OJS discussion associated with the manuscript or the official MJ contact page. Journal Contact Page OJS Login

Transparency reference: Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. Policy reviewed: August 2026.