Waiver Policy

1. General Principles

• BM-Publisher journals do not charge readers, libraries, or institutions for access; instead, publication costs are covered by APCs paid by authors or their funders after manuscript acceptance.
• Submission, peer review, and editorial evaluation are free of charge — fees apply only once a manuscript has been accepted for publication.
• APC amounts are transparent and publicly available on each journal’s homepage.

2. What the APC Covers

The Article Processing Charge supports the entire publication workflow, including:

• Rigorous double-blind peer review and editorial management;
• Professional copy-editing, English language review, and typesetting (XML, HTML, PDF);
• Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration via Crossref;
• Long-term digital preservation in CLOCKSS, LOCKSS, and Portico;
• Website hosting, online platform maintenance, and open-access dissemination;
• Indexing services, metadata registration, and Crossref similarity checks;
• Administrative support and continuous platform development.

3. APC Rates

• Current APC for most BM-Publisher journals: USD 250 – 300 (or equivalent in EUR/GBP).
• Exact APCs are listed on the homepage of each journal.
• No submission fees, page charges, or color figure fees are applied.
• Taxes (if applicable) will be added according to the author’s country of residence.

Example (AJBM): Article Processing Charge: USD 250 per accepted article.

4. Waivers and Discounts

• BM-Publisher is committed to equity and inclusiveness in scholarly publishing.
• Authors may request a full or partial waiver if:
  • They are based in a low- or middle-income country (as classified by the World Bank);
  • They are early-career researchers without institutional support;
  • The article is invited, part of a special issue, or the result of editorial collaboration.
• Waiver requests must be submitted at the time of initial submission and will not affect editorial decisions.

5. Institutional and Funder Support

• Many funding agencies and institutions support open-access publication fees as part of research grants.
• BM-Publisher provides invoices and payment receipts suitable for institutional reimbursement.
• Authors are encouraged to check their institution’s or funder’s open-access policies before submission.

6. Payment Policy and Invoicing

• APCs are payable only after editorial acceptance of the manuscript.
• An official invoice will be issued by BM-Publisher Ltd. (London, UK) in USD, EUR, as appropriate.
• Payments can be made by bank transfer, credit card, or institutional payment gateway.
• BM-Publisher does not charge any handling or administrative fees.

7. Refund and Withdrawal Policy

• If a manuscript is withdrawn before publication, no APC will be charged.
• If an error is found after payment but before publication, APCs may be refunded in full or in part at the publisher’s discretion.
• APCs are non-refundable once the article is published online as the Version of Record, except in cases of publisher error.

8. Transparency and Ethics

• Editorial decisions are made independently of the author’s ability to pay the APC.
• BM-Publisher adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) principles of transparency and best practice.
• Information on APCs, waivers, and licensing is openly available on each journal’s website.

9. Contact