Open Access and Article Processing Charge (APC)

All articles are published in the IEF with full open access. The journal’s Open Access and Article Processing Charge (APC) is £650 (excluding VAT). This APC covers the costs of Editorial work, peer review, copyediting, typesetting, long-term archiving, and journal management. This APC is valid for the current year, 2026, and may be changed at the publisher's discretion. The submitting author is responsible for the APC and must confirm at submission that they will pay it if the article is accepted. This responsibility may not be delegated to any third party unless agreed to by the publisher. Local VAT or Sales Tax will be added if applicable.

APC Discount and Waiver Policy

We wholeheartedly support the Research Program Publishing Charge waiver & discount options are

A 100% discount will be applied to all accepted papers after peer review that do not receive funding or institutional support. 

  • 100% APC waiver for Tier 1 Countries.
  • 75% APC waiver for Tier 2 Countries.
  • 65% APC waiver for Tier 3 Countries.

Calculate APC →

The source country will be determined by the corresponding author's primary affiliation.

Review Voucher: We offer a discount of £35 vouchers to reviewers as a token of appreciation, with an expiry date of  12 months. For details, click here

-Authors from all groups may need to pay for the proofreading changes if recommended by the reviewers. It's important to note that the article processing charges (APC)  for your manuscript will include a minor proofreading component. However, any additional proofreading beyond this will be billed separately.

Article Submission Charges

Article Submission Charges (ASC) do not apply.

Text Changes After Layout 

Text Changes After 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

Payments are accepted in British pounds (£). Upon acceptance, authors will receive an invoice with the option to change currency.

Accepted Methods of Payment

We accept Telephone Transfer (TT), Online Bank Transfer, Debit/Credit Card, and PayPal. APCs must be paid within 14 business days. Articles are published after a full payment receipt. TT transfer charges are borne by authors. Receipts are issued upon payment confirmation.

Note: Only official invoices issued by ICR Publications (@icrp.org.uk) are valid. No third-party collections authorized.

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. How do I get APC funding?

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 we 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

  • Triaging: Filtering of papers upon submission by internal staff and editorial board members.
  • Organization of peer review: We provide 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 the journal's key performance indicators 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: We have 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: This Journal is digitally preserved cover-to-cover, ensuring long-term archival of all of our publications.

Marketing and Communication Expenses

We allocate part of our 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.

This new policy is updated on 18/12/2025 and effective from 01/012026.