Publication Cost
Terms and Conditions for Publication Fee and Author Recognition Fee (ARF)
Vat-Vriksha follows a transparent, ethical, and non-commercial publication model. The fee structure described below is applicable only after manuscript acceptance and does not influence editorial or peer-review decisions.
1. Publication Fee Structure
There are No Article Processing Charges (APC) at any stage of submission, review, or publication.
- A flat publication fee of ₹1500 is applicable for manuscripts with up to 4 authors.
- For every additional author beyond four, an Author Recognition Fee (ARF) of ₹500 per author is applicable.
- The ARF is charged only after acceptance of the manuscript.
2. Purpose and Utilization of ARF
These nominal charges support the journal’s essential scholarly and technical operations, including:
- Website maintenance and secure hosting
- Editorial coordination and technical editing
- Professional formatting and layout for open-access publication
- Digital archiving and long-term preservation
- Peer-review honorarium (where applicable)
- Discouraging honorary or guest authorship
3. Ethical Rationale
The Author Recognition Fee is not a revenue-generation mechanism. It is a safeguard to promote academic integrity and transparent authorship.
The growing practice of honorary or gift authorship—where individuals with minimal or no contribution are listed as authors—undermines research credibility. The ARF acts as a deterrent against such practices and ensures that every listed author has made a genuine intellectual, analytical, or experimental contribution.
4. Applicability and Author Responsibility
- The fee applies to each author listed in an accepted manuscript.
- The corresponding author is responsible for informing all co-authors about the fee policy.
- Submission of a manuscript implies agreement to these terms.
- No honorary or gift authors should be included.
- Any breach of authorship ethics may lead to rejection or post-publication retraction.
5. Payment Terms
- Full payment must be completed within 7 days of acceptance.
- Failure to pay within the stipulated period may result in cancellation of publication.
- A receipt and confirmation email will be issued upon successful payment.
- Payment does not affect acceptance or editorial decisions.
6. Non-Refundable Policy
- All fees are non-refundable once paid.
- No refunds will be issued in cases of withdrawal, rejection, or ethical violations.
7. Mode of Payment
- Payments must be made only through the official Cashfree link or authorized journal accounts.
- Do not make payments to personal or unverified accounts.
8. Dispute Resolution
Any payment-related dispute must be communicated to the editorial office within 5 working days of payment.
Special Note for Editorial Board Members
Editorial Board Members are required to pay a nominal publication fee of ₹750 and ARF of 200 per author beyond 4th author for articles in which they are an author or co-author.
Optional Escalation of Publication Process
Authors may optionally request an expedited review and decision process by paying a Publication Escalation Fee. This allows priority handling and issuance of an Acceptance Letter upon peer-review clearance and editorial approval.
Note: Even under escalation, articles are scheduled only for the next upcoming issue (January or July).
- Escalation fee may be paid only after article submission.
- The corresponding author must email intent to ed.vatvriksha@gmail.com.
- Payment is permitted only after written editorial consent.
- Payments made without approval will be refunded, but escalation will not apply.
- Escalation does not guarantee acceptance or publication.
- All manuscripts undergo standard peer review and editorial evaluation.
- The escalation fee compensates reviewers for fast-track assessment.
This optional service is intended for cases of genuine urgency. We appreciate authors’ cooperation in maintaining ethical, high-quality, and responsible publishing practices at Vat-Vriksha.
