Q: Do I have to pay the APC even if my paper gets rejected?
Do I have to pay the fee before I submit my paper? And if so, do I get the money back if the paper is rejected and I decide to send it to another journal?
Please do not submit your manuscript to a journal that demands that the APC be paid in advance. The term APC stands for article processing charges and is required for covering publication costs. Therefore, this fee is applicable only to articles that are accepted for publication in the journal.
Usually, such demands for fees in advance are made by predatory journals, so please do not submit to this journal. I don't think you will get a refund if your paper is rejected or if you choose to withdraw it from the journal. Please go through these posts that share similar experiences of other researchers:
- How should I deal with an unreasonable APC claim made by a predatory journal?
- What can I do if the journal is trying to coerce me into paying exorbitant fees?
I would also suggest that you do a thorough background check of your target journals before you submit your article to any of them. If you submit to a predatory journal by mistake, it is very difficult to withdraw your paper.
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This content belongs to the Conducting Research Stage