Article Processing Charges and Refunds

Effective 15 September 2026. JGTSS charges a base article processing charge of USD 450 for an article accepted under the approved fee schedule. The charge supports publication services; it does not purchase peer review approval, rapid acceptance, a citation outcome or inclusion in a database. All published articles remain freely accessible to readers.

When charges apply

There is no submission, initial screening or peer-review fee. An APC invoice is issued only after a formal acceptance decision. Authors must not pay an intermediary to secure acceptance or send payment before an official invoice. The invoice identifies the manuscript, the applicable base rate, any approved reduction, the payable amount and payment instructions issued by the publisher.

The USD 450 schedule takes effect on 15 September 2026 and applies to invoices issued on or after that date, including unpaid open manuscripts. The publisher cancels and reissues an unpaid earlier invoice under the new schedule, showing any approved reduction. Before invoicing, the office notifies authors of changed terms and obtains their agreement to any increase over a previously disclosed fee or removal of a previously promised full waiver. Silence does not constitute agreement. An author who declines may withdraw before publication without a fee. A completed payment is not retrospectively surcharged or silently recalculated; an error or reimbursement is recorded separately. Public fee pages and submission notices are updated together. Future price changes require a dated notice, clear treatment of open manuscripts and the same protection against unagreed increases.

Included services and optional purchases

The APC is tax-inclusive and covers the journal’s required publication services. JGTSS adds no compulsory page, colour, submission, review or withdrawal charge. A bank or payment provider may impose transfer or conversion costs, which the payer bears separately. An optional print order receives its own quotation and is not necessary for publication or online access.

Mainland China authors use domestic bank transfer; authors outside mainland China use PayPal. After acceptance, the Finance Office gives the authorized payment route, payee, manuscript reference and amount. Billing documents identify the actual transaction and supplier and meet legitimate payer documentation needs. Check a changed or unexpected payment instruction with jgtssfinance@jandoopress.com before paying.

Waivers withdrawal and refunds

Authors may apply for a geographic waiver, hardship assistance or an institutional reduction through Fee Waivers and Institutional Discounts. Finance personnel assess the request separately from manuscript merit. Reviewers do not receive financial hardship information and editors do not use payment status as a reason for acceptance.

Authors may withdraw an unpublished manuscript by notifying the Editorial Office without a withdrawal penalty. An APC already paid is returned if the manuscript is withdrawn before publication or cannot proceed to publication. Duplicate, excessive or erroneous payments are returned or credited with the payer’s agreement. The journal does not impose an undisclosed production deduction, and optional print orders remain subject to their separately agreed order terms.

Publisher-error corrections carry no additional charge. A published article retracted for substantiated author misconduct or an author-attributable serious breach of the journal’s originality or AI requirements is not eligible for an APC refund. A detector percentage first receives the investigation and human assessment required by the integrity policies. This rule preserves mandatory legal rights and correction of erroneous payments; the financial outcome cannot determine whether an independent editor corrects or retracts the article. Send a payment dispute with the invoice reference and requested remedy to jgtssfinance@jandoopress.com.

Confirmed institutional benefit

The Center for Surrounding Communication Studies, Peking University is JGTSS’s sole current institutional partner. An eligible corresponding author who is a researcher of the centre can receive the publisher-authorized 50 percent reduction, leaving USD 225 payable, after administrative verification. The benefit does not extend to Peking University affiliates outside the centre. Geographic, institutional and hardship support cannot be combined beyond 50 percent. Details and the application procedure appear in Fee Waivers and Institutional Discounts.

Last updated: 16 September 2026