Article Processing Charges

The Journal of Computers, Mechanical and Management is a fully open-access journal. To support the costs of editorial coordination, peer-review management, technical infrastructure, indexing, and long-term preservation, the journal levies an Article Processing Charge (APC) on accepted articles. Submission, peer review, and editorial handling are free of charge. The APC is requested only after final acceptance and has no bearing on the editorial decision.

Current APC schedule

The journal applies a two-tier APC schedule, determined by the date of original submission. The trigger is the submission date, not the acceptance or publication date.

• Manuscripts submitted on or before 30 September 2026: USD 250 per accepted article, irrespective of the date of acceptance.
• Manuscripts submitted from 1 October 2026 onwards: USD 1,000 per accepted article.

The same APC applies to all article types accepted under the standard editorial workflow: Original Research Articles, Systematic or Methodological Reviews, and Short Communications. Editorials are by invitation only and are not subject to any charge.

What the APC covers

The APC covers the full publication service:

• Editorial coordination and double-blind or single-blind peer-review management
• Copyediting, typesetting, and PDF production to professional academic standards
• Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration with Crossref
• Submission of metadata to indexing and abstracting services, including Scopus and SCImago
• Open-access publication under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence
• Perpetual hosting on the journal's website
• Long-term digital preservation through partner archiving networks

What is not charged

The journal does not charge for any of the following:

• Submission fees
• Article-handling or peer-review-administration fees
• Page charges or word-count surcharges within the standard article length
• Colour figure charges
• Charges for supplementary material
• Post-publication correction fees, where the correction is required to maintain the scholarly record

APC waiver scheme

The journal applies a structured waiver scheme effective from 1 October 2026, designed to ensure that the APC does not present a barrier to authors from lower-income economies or to authors facing genuine financial hardship. The scheme is based on the World Bank country income classification, in line with the practice of major scholarly publishers including Wiley, Elsevier, Sage, Oxford University Press, IEEE, and Taylor & Francis.

Group A: Full waiver (low-income economies)

Authors whose corresponding-author institution is located in a country classified by the World Bank as a low-income economy receive a full APC waiver. The waiver is applied automatically upon acceptance, with no application or supporting documentation required. The corresponding author's affiliation as recorded at submission is the basis for the waiver determination.

Group B: 50% waiver (lower-middle-income economies)

Authors whose corresponding-author institution is located in a country classified by the World Bank as a lower-middle-income economy receive a 50% APC waiver. The waiver is applied automatically upon acceptance, on the same basis as the full waiver above.

Hardship waiver (all other countries)

Authors whose corresponding-author institution is located in any other country, but who can demonstrate genuine financial hardship in meeting the APC, may apply for a discretionary waiver. Hardship waivers are evaluated case by case by the Editor-in-Chief. Applications should be made in writing to editor@jcmm.co.in at the time of submission, with a brief statement of need. Applying for a hardship waiver does not affect the editorial review of the manuscript.

Public waiver commitment

The journal commits to ensuring that at least 20% of accepted articles in any calendar year receive a full or partial APC waiver. The waiver proportion is monitored by the Editor-in-Chief and reported in the journal's annual editorial summary.

Editorial independence and APC

Waiver decisions have no bearing on editorial decisions. The handling editor and peer reviewers are not informed of the corresponding author's waiver status during the editorial review of the manuscript. The decision to accept, revise, or reject a manuscript is made on the basis of scholarly merit alone, as described on the Editorial Independence page.

Reference: World Bank country classification

The journal applies the World Bank country and lending group classification current at the date of acceptance. The classification is updated annually by the World Bank in July. The current list of low-income and lower-middle-income economies is available at the World Bank country and lending groups page.

Payment

Once a manuscript is accepted and any applicable waiver is determined, the corresponding author receives an invoice from the publisher with payment instructions. Payment may be made by international bank transfer or by other accepted payment methods specified in the invoice. Authors who require an institutional invoice for processing through their employer's accounts payable system can request one at the time of acceptance. Articles are scheduled for publication once payment is received in full or a waiver is granted.

Currency, taxes, and transaction charges

APCs are denominated in United States Dollars (USD). The figures shown above are net of taxes and net of transaction charges.

Any taxes applicable to the APC, in any jurisdiction, are borne by the author and are added to the invoice. This includes any goods and services tax, value added tax, sales tax, withholding tax, or equivalent levy that applies in the publisher's jurisdiction, the author's jurisdiction, or any intermediate jurisdiction in connection with the payment. Where the publisher is required to collect tax, the tax is itemised on the invoice. Where the author's institution or jurisdiction requires withholding at source, the author remains responsible for grossing up the payment so that the publisher receives the full invoiced APC.

Any transaction charges, bank charges, intermediary bank fees, currency conversion charges, or payment processor fees applied in the course of remitting payment to the publisher are borne by the author. Authors should instruct their bank to apply the "OUR" charge code, or its equivalent, so that the publisher receives the full invoiced amount in USD.

An invoice is treated as settled only when the full invoiced APC, net of any waiver and inclusive of applicable taxes, is received by the publisher in cleared funds. Where a remittance is short of the invoiced amount due to taxes withheld or charges deducted in transit, the corresponding author is invited to remit the shortfall before the article is scheduled for publication.

Refunds

The APC is payable only after final acceptance. If the manuscript is subsequently withdrawn by the author after acceptance but before publication, the APC remains payable in respect of the editorial work already performed. If the manuscript is retracted by the journal due to publisher error or editorial misconduct, the APC is refunded in full. If the manuscript is retracted due to author misconduct, no refund applies.

Future review of the APC

The journal commits to maintaining the current USD 1,000 APC stable through the end of 2028. No further increases will be announced before then. Should a future increase become necessary, it will be announced at least six months in advance, will not apply to manuscripts already submitted at the date of announcement, and will be accompanied by a continued or strengthened waiver and discount policy. The journal recognises that repeated APC increases are widely regarded as a quality concern, and is committed to a stable and transparent fee schedule.

Questions

For any question about APCs, waivers, or payment, write to journalmanager@jcmm.co.in. The publisher will respond within three working days.