12-Article Processing Charge (APC) Policy

12.1   APC

The Business & Economic Review (BER) is an Open Access (OA) academic journal committed to advancing research in business, economics, finance, and related fields. As an OA journal, BER provides immediate and unrestricted access to its published content.

BER does not charge any processing charges from its authors**. It does, however, charge a publication fee, from local authors for accepted articles. There is no publication fee charged from international authors.

**Authors who have immediate publication needs are required to pay the reviewing fee (Rs. 5000 to local, plus $100 (or equivalent) to the foreign reviewer) to the journal to avail simultaneous reviews from all the reviewers. Paying this fee does not guarantee publication. This fee is paid to the reviewers.

12.2    Publication fee amount

The publication fee for local authors is PKR 4000. There is no publication fee charged from international authors. This fee is flat-rate and applies regardless of article length, number of authors, or type of empirical analysis. This fee is reviewed annually and may be adjusted with prior public notice.

12.3   When is the publication fee charged?

• The fee is only payable upon final acceptance of the manuscript, after peer review.
• Authors are not charged at submission or during the review process.
• No fees are required for articles that are rejected at any stage.

Upon acceptance:

• A payment request is sent to the corresponding author.
• Payment must be completed before publication.
• Once payment is confirmed, the article proceeds to copyediting, layout, and publication.

Accepted Payment Methods

• Bank/wire transfers
• Online payments

12.4   Payment Timing and Deadlines

• Publication fee should be paid within 10–15 working days from the initial request.
• Articles may be delayed or removed from the publication schedule if payment is not received.
• Authors may request extensions in special cases.
• Failure to pay without notice may result in withdrawal of acceptance

12.5   Refund Policy

BER may consider partial or full refunds under the following conditions:

• Duplicate payment or transaction error
• Editorial withdrawal due to publisher-side mistakes
• Failure to publish the article after payment due to a technical issue or journal error

No refund will be issued if:

• Authors withdraw the manuscript after acceptance
• Articles are retracted post-publication due to author misconduct
• All refund requests must be made in writing within 30 days of payment.

12.6    Policy Review and Updates

Publication fee policy is reviewed annually and revised based on:

• Inflationary adjustments
• Operational cost changes
• Industry best practices
• Author feedback

Any changes are published in advance on the BER website and communicated through newsletters and submission system updates.