What is Open Access

Most publishers are moving towards open access policy. Because they believe that making the journal open access promotes global accessibility and uptake, benefiting both the professional and scientific communities as well as the general public, all of our readers and authors benefit from free open access. In order to provide free access to readers, and to cover the costs of peer review, copyediting, typesetting, online hosting and archiving, journal production, and journal management, an article processing charge (APC) applies to the accepted papers after the peer review process.

Article Processing Charges

This journal's APC is £650 (excl. VAT). We accept 8000–9000-word articles. The journal will charge £ 90 per A4 page if there are more than 9000 words with single spaces, including references. This APC is valid for the current year, 2024, and may be changed at the publisher's discretion. The submitting author is responsible for the APC and must confirm at submission that s/he will pay it if the article is accepted. This responsibility may not be delegated to any third party unless agreed to by the publisher.

Our APC structure is aligned with recommendations from the Fair Open Access Alliance,, ensuring our practices are sustainable, transparent, and in full compliance with Plan S requirements, a significant movement to encourage open access by funding bodies.

Article Submission Charges

Article Submission Charges (ASC) do not apply.

Text changes after the 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

We accept payments in US Dollars (USD). Upon acceptance, the corresponding/submitting author will receive an e-mail with a link where the invoice currency can be changed.

Accepted Methods of Payment

IJSSER by ICR Publications currently supports the following payment methods:

- Telephonic Transfer (TT)

- Online Bank Transfer

- Debit and credit card

- Paypal

APCs are payable within 5 to 10 business days. The article will only be published once full payment has been received. If payment is done by TT, the author will be responsible for any bank transfer charges at the time of the transaction. In all cases, a receipt will be sent by email once payment has been received. Invoices are emailed shortly after acceptance to the payment contact provided by the authors. Only official invoices issued by ICR Publications (@icrp.org.uk) are valid. We do not authorize any third party to collect the APCs.

APC Discount and Waiver Policy

Members of the IJSSER Board of Directors: Our advisory board members receive a 20% discount.

IJSSER reviewers include: All reviewers will receive a 20% discount on one article submitted within the next 12 months.

We wholeheartedly support the Research4Life Access to Health Research Program. For articles presenting original research, authors whose primary funder is in the HINARI Group A countries receive a 65% discount, while authors whose primary funder is in the HINARI Group B countries receive a 35% discount. If no formal funding was received, the source country will be determined by the country of origin of the majority of the authors' institutions. If there is no majority country, the corresponding author's primary affiliation country will determine waiver eligibility.

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.

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 key performance indicators of the journal 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 by Lockss and CLOCKSS, 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.