What are Article Processing Charges (APCs)?

Article Processing Charge (APC) funding is a critical element of the open-access publishing model, which aims to make research available freely to all readers.

APCs are fees that publishers charge to authors, their institutions, or funders to cover the expenses involved in the publication process. These costs can include:

  • Peer review management
  • Journal production
  • Online hosting and dissemination
  • Archiving
  • Promotional activities to ensure the paper reaches a wide audience

Why are APCs Necessary?

APCs support the sustainability of the open-access publishing model. Unlike subscription-based journals, where the institution pays for access, open-access journals rely on APCs to fund their operations since the articles are freely available to read for anyone around the world.

Article Submission Charges

Article Submission Charges (ASC) do not apply.

Article Publication Charges (APCs)

JournalsOpen AccessHybridSubscription Non-funding feeWith Funding fee
Journal of Intercultural Communication         ✓       x        x£1600£1600
Innovation Journal of Social Sciences and Economic Review         ✓       x        xNo Fee £650
Strategic Management Innovation Journal         ✓       x        xNo Fee No Fee
Strategic Leadership Innovation Journal         ✓       x        xNo Fee No Fee
Strategic Entrepreneurship Innovation Journal         ✓       x        xNo Fee No Fee
Strategic Artificial Intelligence Journal         ✓       x        xNo Fee No Fee
 Innovation Economics Frontiers       ✓       x        xNo Fee£650
Journal of Forestry Innovation Studies       ✓       x        xNo Fee No Fee
Sustainability Quest       ✓       x        xNo Fee No Fee
Journal of Heart Valve Disease Innovation       ✓       x        xNo Fee No Fee
Innovation Management Frontiers      ✓      x        xNo FeeNo Fee
InsightsX     ✓       x        x No Fee No Fee
      

APC Discount and Waiver Policy

Board of Directors: Our advisory board members receive a 20% discount on the non-funding fee. ICRP also offers discount vouchers to selected reviewers.

Click here to calculate the APC and discount. 

Non-funded APC:
Applies when the article processing charge is paid directly by the author without support from a funding agency or institution.

Funded APC:
Applies when the article processing charge is covered by a research grant, institutional open-access fund, or sponsoring organisation.

Post-Acceptance Funding Declarations & APC Adjustment

1. Funding Acknowledgments

Authors must declare all sources of research funding (including institutional, commercial, governmental sources, or none) at the time of initial submission. This should be included in a separate “Funding Statement” section—distinct from conflicts of interest—following best practices for transparency publicationethics.org.

2. Managing Post-Acceptance Funding Additions

If an author realizes after acceptance that a funding source was omitted:

They must promptly inform the editorial office, providing clear documentation or confirmation from the funding institution by resubmission of the Authorship, Disclosure Statements, Copyright, and License Agreement form.

The Editor-in-Chief (or delegated editor) will review the request. If accepted, a formal correction or amendment will be issued in the published version to include the updated funding statement, ensuring transparency and integrity.

3. APC Charges and Adjustments

Once accepted, the assigned APC (e.g., "funded" vs. "non-funded" rate) is considered final. Any change in funding status post-acceptance—such as discovering newly available institutional support—may affect the APC classification. If the author initially paid the non-funded APC, but later declares funding, they may be required to pay the difference before implementing the updated funding status in the article.

4. Ethical Basis

This policy supports COPE’s emphasis on transparent research reporting, including full declaration of funding to uphold trust and reproducibility publicationethics.org.

Hybrid Open Access
Open access option in ICRP's subscription journals		ICRP Open Access
ICRP's fully open-access journal portfolio

View the price list for hybrid open access, a gold open access option in subscription journals

Hybrid OA Price List

View the price list for ICRP's fully open-access journal portfolio

Open Access Journal Price List

Discounts available

  • There are no discount policies available for founders and institutions.

Discounts and Waivers are available

  • Society Member Discounts
  • Institution Payment
  • Developing Country Discounts
  • Developing Country Waivers
 

Need help?

if you need help please visit the APC page of each journal. 

 

Text changes after the layout

In the final copy-editing phase, authors can revise and approve the accepted manuscript. After the author's approval, the layout will begin. Before publication, the author must proofread the final galleys. Proofreading corrects typesetting errors and does not introduce new text changes, which require a new page layout. If changes are made during final proofreading and production, then the journal will charge the author Galley Change Fees (GCF). The GCF per hour is $30.00 (excl. VAT).

Accepted Currencies

We accept payments in British pounds (£), US dollars (USD), euros (EUR), and Malaysian RM. Upon acceptance, the corresponding or submitting author will receive an email with a link where the currency of the invoice can be changed.

Accepted Methods of Payment

ICR Publications Ltd currently supports the following payment methods:

  • Telephonic Transfer (TT)
  • Online Bank Transfer
  • Debit and credit card
  • Paypal

APCs are payable within 14 business days. The article will only be published once full payment has been received. If payment is made by TT, the author will be responsible for any bank transfer charges at the time of the transaction. In all cases, a receipt will be sent by email once payment has been received.

Invoices are emailed shortly after acceptance to the payment contact provided by the authors. Only official invoices issued by ICR Publications (@icrp.org.uk) are valid. We do not authorize any third party to collect the APCs.

Taxes on publication charges

European Union

Authors and Institutions resident in any of the EU countries that participate in VAT that are not registered for VAT will have Value-Added Tax (VAT, at their local relevant rate) to add.

If the Author/Institution is VAT registered, by providing their VAT registration number a tax invoice can be accommodated under the reverse charge. (This is a mechanism where VAT would not need to be added to the payment). The VAT registered customer will account for the VAT when they prepare their VAT return as both an "in" and an "out", producing a nil effect.

CanadaGST and HST will be applied on digital publishing services supplied to Canadian customers at the applicable rate depending on the province.

Institutional Funding Opportunities

APC fees for open-access journals are an accepted way to defray publication costs, and most institutions have mechanisms and funding sources to cover publication costs in high-quality open-access journals. Contact your institution, department, or funder for information on APC subsidies for open-access publications. As your department benefits directly or indirectly from article publication, we're confident it will be willing to pay the APC fee in the absence of extramural funding. For the open access agreement 

Refund Policy

Once an article has been accepted for publication, an Article Processing Charge is due. The submitting author assumes responsibility for the Article Processing Charge (APC), and ICRP will not issue refunds of any kind. For others, read the complete policy.

English Editing and Discount Opportunity

English editing services: Get a 10% discount on English editing services from ICRP. If the authors used another professional service, please provide an English editing certificate from the company or an individual native English speaker.

Journal publication Expenses

Here is a breakdown of how our APCs are used

  • Triaging: Filtering of papers upon submission by internal staff and editorial board members.
  • Organization of peer review: ICRP provides a high degree of assistance to academic editors so that they can only focus on editorial decisions. We employ in-house editors to invite reviewers, collect review reports, communicate with authors and reviewers, correspond with authors about revisions, and more.
  • Production: copy-editing, typesetting, XML, language editing, and PDF conversion. The APC includes minor English editing by native English speakers. The APC does not cover extensive English editing.
  • Proofreading: corresponding with authors to approve the final text and requesting any missing information.
  • Other editorial assistance: handling any questions and requests for support before submission, during the editorial and peer-review process, or post-publication.
  • Journal Management & Development: In-house Managing Editors track key performance indicators of the journal and monitor competing journals and trends in the field. They also provide reports and hold discussions with the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board.
  • Indexing & Archiving: ICRP has a dedicated team that works to continuously expand post-publication coverage of all our journals within the main academic databases, scope-specific databases, and country-specific journal ranking lists.
  • Digital preservation: ICRP is digitally preserved cover-to-cover by KPK and LOCKSS, ensuring long-term archival of all of our publications.

Marketing and Communication Expenses

ICRP allocates part of its income to the promotion of journals and articles through sponsorships of conferences, scholarly society events, and other promotional activities, as well as a series of awards to support researchers