Publication Fees, Funding and Revenue Sources Policy

1. Purpose

The Journal of Contemporary Social Issues (JCSI) is committed to providing equitable access to scholarly publishing and ensuring complete transparency regarding author charges, journal funding, revenue sources and the financial independence of editorial decisions.

This policy applies to all manuscripts submitted to the journal, including original research articles, review articles, conceptual papers, case studies, short communications, book reviews, editorials, special-issue contributions and other scholarly content.

2. No Author Charges

The Journal of Contemporary Social Issues does not charge authors at any stage of the submission, evaluation, production or publication process.

The journal does not impose any of the following charges:

  • Manuscript submission fees;

  • Editorial processing charges;

  • Article processing charges;

  • Publication fees;

  • Peer-review fees;

  • Page charges;

  • Charges based on article length;

  • Colour figure or image charges;

  • Charges for tables, appendices or supplementary files

  • Plagiarism-screening charges;

  • Language-editing charges;

  • Copyediting or proofreading charges;

  • Typesetting or formatting charges;

  • Charges for corrections made during production;

  • Charges for data, audio, video or multimedia files;

  • Membership fees as a condition of submission or publication;

  • Fast-track review or priority-publication charges;

  • Special-issue publication charges;

  • Withdrawal charges; or

  • Any other mandatory or hidden author charges.

Authors are not required to make any payment before submission, during peer review, after acceptance or following publication.

3. Fee Waivers

Because JCSI does not charge authors any submission or publication fees, a fee-waiver programme is not necessary.

Authors from all countries, institutions and economic backgrounds are treated equally, and no author is required to apply for financial assistance to submit or publish a manuscript.

4. Manuscript Withdrawal

The journal does not charge authors for withdrawing a manuscript.

Authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript should submit a written and reasoned request to the editorial office. Withdrawal requests will be reviewed according to the stage of editorial processing and the journal’s ethical responsibilities.

Authors must not submit the manuscript to another journal until the withdrawal has been formally confirmed by JCSI.

Repeated submission and withdrawal without reasonable justification may be treated as misuse of the editorial process, but no financial penalty will be imposed.

5. Funding and Business Model

The operational and publishing costs of the Journal of Contemporary Social Issues are supported by its publisher, the Shah Rafi Ud Din Institute of Knowledge and Research.

Publisher support may cover costs associated with:

  • Website hosting and technical maintenance;

  • Open Journal Systems administration;

  • Editorial management;

  • Plagiarism screening;

  • Copyediting and production;

  • Metadata preparation;

  • Digital preservation;

  • Website security;

  • Journal promotion; and

  • General administrative support.

The journal does not depend on author payments to finance editorial decisions or publication.

This funding model is intended to ensure that authors can publish without financial barriers and that readers can access the journal’s content without subscriptions, registration or payment.

6. Grants, Donations and Sponsorship

JCSI may receive institutional support, grants, donations or non-commercial sponsorship to support its scholarly publishing activities.

Any substantial financial support received specifically for the journal will be disclosed transparently where appropriate.

The journal will not accept funding that requires the publisher or editorial team to:

  • Publish a particular manuscript;

  • Reject a particular manuscript;

  • alter or suppress research findings;

  • Influence the selection of reviewers;

  • Influence editorial conclusions;

  • Restrict lawful criticism;

  • Delay a correction or retraction; or

  • Compromise the independence and integrity of the journal.

7. Editorial Independence

Financial support, institutional relationships, donations or sponsorship arrangements have no influence over:

  • Initial manuscript screening;

  • Reviewer selection;

  • Peer-review reports;

  • Editorial recommendations;

  • Acceptance or rejection decisions;

  • Publication scheduling;

  • Corrections, expressions of concern or retractions; or

  • The presentation and interpretation of research findings.

Editorial decisions are based solely on the manuscript’s scholarly quality, originality, relevance to the journal’s scope, methodological soundness, ethical compliance and contribution to knowledge.

The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for editorial decisions and must remain independent of financial, political, institutional and commercial influence.

8. Special Issues and Sponsored Content

Special issues, thematic collections or externally supported projects are subject to the same editorial and peer-review standards as regular journal content.

Financial or institutional support for a special issue does not guarantee the acceptance of any manuscript.

Any sponsored issue, supplement or collection will clearly identify its source of financial support. Sponsored material will not be presented in a manner that could mislead readers into believing that it has received independent editorial endorsement when it has not.

9. Future Changes to Author Charges

If the journal considers introducing fees in the future, the change will:

  • Be approved by the publisher and editorial leadership;

  • Be publicly announced before implementation;

  • Be displayed clearly on the journal website;

  • Identify every applicable fee and its amount;

  • Explain any waiver or discount arrangements;

  • State the effective date of the change; and

  • Apply only to manuscripts submitted after the effective date.

No fee will be introduced retrospectively after a manuscript has been submitted or accepted under the no-fee model.

10. Non-Discrimination

An author’s financial status, institutional affiliation, country, nationality, career stage or ability to obtain funding will not influence the editorial evaluation of a manuscript.

11. Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed periodically and updated whenever there is a material change in the journal’s funding model, revenue sources or author-charge arrangements.

Any changes will be clearly displayed on the journal website.

12. Contact

Questions regarding fees, funding or the journal’s financial model should be directed to:

Journal of Contemporary Social Issues
Shah Rafi Ud Din Institute of Knowledge and Research
Usama Town Nilore, Near Aziz Market
House No. 38, Street No. 1
Islamabad, Pakistan
Email: admin@srdikr.com