FOCUSCHOLAR

Publication Fee

Uniform Statement on Manuscript Processing Fees for Journals of Focuscholar Academic Press

Dear Authors,

To ensure the publication quality of all academic journals under its umbrella, enhance the efficiency of academic dissemination, and maintain the long-term stable operation and development of each journal, Focuscholar Academic Press (hereinafter referred to as “the Press”) has formulated this Uniform Statement on Manuscript Processing Fees based on international academic publishing industry standards and the comprehensive calculation of the operation costs of all journals under the Press. This statement aims to ensure transparent and reasonable fee collection, and effectively serve the high-quality presentation and wide dissemination of academic achievements of authors worldwide.

I. Fee Standard and Scope of Application

  1. Fee Standard: For manuscripts that have passed peer review and been confirmed for acceptance, all academic journals under the Press uniformly charge a one-time manuscript processing fee at a standard of USD 200 per manuscript. This fee is only applicable to finally accepted manuscripts; no fees will be charged for unaccepted manuscripts (including those failing the initial review or peer review).
  2. Payment Method: After the manuscript is accepted, please contact the editor of the corresponding journal for specific payment matters, who will provide detailed guidance.
  3. Scope of Application: This uniform fee standard applies to all types of academic manuscripts received by journals under the Press, including original research papers, review articles, short communications, and case studies. It covers the entire process of services from manuscript acceptance to official publication, with no additional hidden fees.

II. Basis for Fee Reasonableness

The uniform manuscript processing fee of USD 200 per manuscript set by the Press is calculated based on the accurate accounting of the operation costs of all journals under the Press. It is mainly used to cover the expenses of core service links of each journal, ensuring that every dollar of the fee truly contributes to the improvement of academic publication quality:

  1. Cost of Maintaining the Peer Review System: The Press has established a shared global network of peer review experts for all journals under its umbrella, and each manuscript is assigned to 2-3 senior experts in the relevant field for review. The fee is used to cover the remuneration for review experts, the maintenance and upgrading of the Press’s unified peer review management system (e.g., ScholarOne, Editorial Manager), as well as the labor costs for integrating review comments and providing guidance on manuscript revisions. This ensures the professionalism, fairness, and efficiency of the review process for each journal.
  2. Cost of Manuscript Editing and Processing: Accepted manuscripts of each journal undergo multiple rounds of refined processing by professional academic editing teams, including organizing the logical structure of academic content, standardizing multilingual expressions (including English polishing for non-native English authors), standardizing the format of figures and tables, and verifying and standardizing the citation of references. This ensures that manuscripts comply with international academic publishing standards. Meanwhile, the fee also covers the pre-publication preparation costs of each journal, such as typesetting design, custom cover design for special issues, and collaborative planning of cross-journal academic content, so as to improve the visual presentation quality and academic influence of all journals under the Press.
  3. Cost of Open Access (OA) and Academic Dissemination: All journals under the Press are Open Access (OA) journals. The fee is used to cover the database inclusion service fees for each journal, the unified registration of Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for manuscripts and copyright protection, as well as the global promotion costs of the Press’s academic achievements (including dissemination through social media matrices, targeted promotion to scholars in relevant fields, and cooperative display of achievements at international academic conferences). This helps to enhance the global visibility and citation rate of academic achievements by authors worldwide.
  4. Basic Operation Cost of Journals: This includes the maintenance of the Press’s unified official website platform (to ensure the online and multilingual adaptation of the manuscript submission, review, and tracking processes for authors worldwide), the printing and global mailing of printed versions of some journals (for institutional subscribers with such needs), and the academic brand building of all journals under the Press (e.g., international journal influence enhancement programs, young scholar support programs). These expenses guarantee the continuous publication and improved industry influence of each journal.

III. Payment Method and Rights Protection

  1. Payment Method: After the manuscript is accepted, please contact the editor of the corresponding journal for specific payment matters, who will provide detailed guidance. After completing the payment, authors are required to send the payment certificate to the email address of the editorial department of the corresponding journal for verification and confirmation.
  2. Rights Protection:
  • After payment, authors can track the publication progress of their manuscripts in real time through the Press’s unified official website platform. The editorial department of the corresponding journal will regularly update information on key milestones such as typesetting, proofreading, and online publication.
  • If the manuscript fails to be published on the agreed schedule due to reasons attributable to the Press or the corresponding journal, authors may apply for deferred payment or a 50% reduction in the processing fee (subject to negotiation between the two parties).

IV. Commitment to Fee Transparency

The Press strictly adheres to international academic publishing ethics standards (e.g., guidelines of COPE and OASPA). The revenue and expenditure of manuscript processing fees for all journals under the Press will be included in the annual operation report, which will be publicly released on the “About Us – Operation Disclosure” section of the Press’s official website every year, subject to supervision by authors, readers, and international academic publishing regulatory authorities worldwide. Meanwhile, the Press and all journals under its umbrella will never charge additional fees in the name of “expedited publication”, “priority acceptance”, or “cross-journal recommendation”. If any editorial staff is found to have engaged in illegal fee collection, authors may report it via the Press’s global complaint email: contact@focuscholar.com. The Press will conduct a thorough investigation and publicly announce the handling results.

Thank you for your support and trust in Focuscholar Academic Press. We look forward to working with scholars around the world to jointly promote the innovation and dissemination of international academic achievements!

Publishing Service Center of Focuscholar Academic Press

March 1, 2025