Article Processing Charge

The Transactions on Cybernetics and Digital Innovation is a fully Open Access journal. All content is made freely available online immediately upon publication without embargo or registration barriers. Articles are published under a Creative Commons license that grants users the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts, and to use them for any lawful purpose, provided the original work is properly cited (subject to the specific terms of the applicable license).

To sustain the costs of high-quality publishing, an Article Processing Charge (APC) is payable only after a manuscript has successfully completed peer review and has been formally accepted for publication.

What the APC Covers

The APC covers the full range of services required to publish, disseminate, and preserve the article, including:

• Editorial management and peer-review administration
• Plagiarism screening and research-integrity checks
• Professional copyediting, typesetting, and proofreading
• DOI registration and metadata deposit
• Online publication in HTML and PDF formats
• Website hosting, maintenance, and long-term digital preservation
• Indexing support and discoverability services
• General journal management and infrastructure

Authors pay only the APC, and only after acceptance — see "Other Fees" below for the full list of charges the journal does not apply.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are based solely on the scientific quality, originality, methodological rigour, ethical standards, and relevance of the manuscript to the journal's scope. Payment of the APC (or any waiver/discount status) has no influence on the peer-review process or the final editorial decision. Information about APC status is kept separate from the academic editors handling the manuscript.

Current Article Processing Charge

A single Article Processing Charge applies to all accepted manuscripts:

APC Waiver and Discount Policy

The journal is committed to equitable access to scholarly publishing. Full or partial waivers may be granted in cases of genuine financial hardship.

• Authors facing demonstrable financial constraints may request a full or partial waiver.
• Waiver requests must be submitted at the time of manuscript submission (or as soon as possible thereafter) via the online submission system or by email to the editorial office, accompanied by a brief justification.
• Requests are evaluated by the journal's administrative team independently of the editorial and peer-review process.
• Waiver status has no bearing on the editorial decision.
• Editorial Board members and active reviewers may be eligible for discounts or vouchers in recognition of their service (details available on request).

The journal does not guarantee that every waiver request will be approved. Decisions are final and communicated to the corresponding author.

Payment Terms

• An invoice is issued to the corresponding author (or designated billing contact) only after formal acceptance.
• Payment is due within the period stated on the invoice (normally 30 days).
• Accepted payment methods: bank/wire transfer, credit/debit card, and other methods listed on the invoice.
• Publication of the article proceeds only after the APC has been received (or a waiver has been confirmed).
• Authors are responsible for any bank charges, currency conversion fees, or taxes. Payments must be made in full without deduction.

Withdrawal and Refund Policy

This policy follows established best-practice principles for open-access publishing.

• Authors may withdraw their manuscript at any time during the evaluation / peer-review period by notifying the editorial office in writing.
• No APC is charged if the manuscript is withdrawn before formal acceptance.
• Any optional paid services already provided (e.g., extensive language editing arranged by the author) remain the author's responsibility.

• Once a manuscript has been formally accepted for publication, it may no longer be withdrawn by the author as a matter of right.
• If the author still requests withdrawal after acceptance, the request will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
• In such cases the paid APC is non-refundable. At the journal's discretion the amount may be retained as credit toward a future submission by the same corresponding author (subject to the journal's current APC rates and policies at the time of the future submission).

• No APC invoice is issued for rejected manuscripts; therefore no refund situation arises.
• After acceptance and payment: payments are non-refundable once the paper has been accepted.
• In the exceptional case of a journal error (e.g., duplicate charging or administrative mistake), a full or partial refund may be granted after review.
• If a published article is later retracted, the APC is not refundable.
• Overpayments will be refunded after deduction of any applicable bank or transaction fees.
• Refund requests (where eligible) must be submitted in writing to the editorial office, quoting the manuscript ID / invoice number, and will be processed on a case-by-case basis.

During the peer-review period the journal reserves the right to decline further processing of a manuscript. In such cases any fees already paid (excluding optional third-party services) will be refunded in full.

Other Fees

The journal does not charge any other fees to authors (submission fees, editorial processing charges, page charges, colour charges, membership fees, language-editing fees beyond standard copyediting included in the APC, or withdrawal fees that exceed the APC). Any optional third-party services (e.g., extensive professional language editing or figure redrawing) are arranged and paid for by the author independently and are not required for publication.

Funding and Institutional Support

Many research funders and institutions explicitly cover APCs for open-access publications. Authors are encouraged to check their institutional open-access funds, library agreements, or funder policies. The journal can provide pro-forma invoices or additional documentation upon request to support funding applications.

Contact

For questions about APCs, invoices, waivers, withdrawals, or refunds, please contact the editorial office.

Email: [email protected]