Article Processing Charge (APC)

COMMUNIA – Journal of Community Engagement and Development is committed to maintaining a transparent, fair, and sustainable publication process. The journal applies a clearly stated Article Processing Charge (APC) to support the operational and publication costs associated with the dissemination of scholarly research.

1. Article Processing Charge

COMMUNIA charges an Article Processing Charge (APC) of IDR 150,000 (one hundred thousand Indonesian Rupiah) per accepted article.

The APC is charged only for manuscripts that have successfully passed the editorial evaluation and peer-review process and have received a final decision of acceptance.

The APC supports the costs associated with:

  • editorial and publication administration;

  • peer-review management;

  • online publication;

  • article formatting and production;

  • DOI and article metadata management;

  • digital preservation and archiving;

  • website and publishing platform maintenance; and

  • other essential journal publishing services.

2. No Submission Fee

COMMUNIA does not charge any submission fee.

Authors are not required to pay any fee when submitting a manuscript for consideration.

The APC of IDR 100,000 applies only after a manuscript has received a formal acceptance decision.

3. When the APC Is Charged

The APC is charged only after the manuscript has been formally accepted for publication.

Authors will receive payment instructions from the journal after the acceptance decision has been issued.

Authors will not be asked to pay an APC during the initial submission or peer-review stages.

4. No APC for Rejected Manuscripts

No APC will be charged for manuscripts that are:

  • rejected during editorial screening;

  • rejected after peer review;

  • withdrawn before acceptance; or

  • not accepted for publication.

Payment is required only for manuscripts that have received a final acceptance decision.

5. No Additional Publication Charges

COMMUNIA does not charge additional fees for standard publication services.

The IDR 150,000 APC covers the standard costs of processing and publishing an accepted article.

There are no separate charges for:

  • manuscript submission;

  • editorial screening;

  • peer review;

  • standard article formatting;

  • online publication;

  • DOI registration; or

  • access to the published article.

The journal does not impose hidden publication charges.

6. Waiver and Discount Policy

Because the APC is set at a relatively low rate of IDR 150,000 per accepted article, COMMUNIA generally applies the same APC to all authors.

However, authors experiencing genuine financial difficulties may contact the editorial office to request an APC waiver or reduction.

Any waiver or reduction request will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will not influence the editorial evaluation or peer-review process.

7. Editorial Independence

Payment of the APC does not guarantee acceptance or publication of a manuscript.

Editorial decisions are made independently of financial considerations.

Manuscripts are evaluated based on:

  • relevance to the journal's aims and scope;

  • originality;

  • academic quality;

  • methodological rigor;

  • ethical compliance;

  • scholarly contribution; and

  • peer-review results.

Editors and reviewers must not accept, reject, or influence a manuscript based on an author's ability or willingness to pay the APC.

8. Refund Policy

APC payments are generally non-refundable once the article has entered the publication production process.

A refund may be considered in exceptional circumstances, such as:

  • duplicate payment;

  • payment made due to an administrative error; or

  • other circumstances determined by the journal.

If a manuscript is rejected before acceptance, no APC will be charged.

9. Transparency of Author Fees

COMMUNIA clearly discloses its APC and other applicable author fees on the journal website.

The journal does not impose undisclosed or hidden charges.

Any future changes to the APC will be announced publicly through the journal website before the changes take effect.

Authors will be informed of applicable fees before being required to make payment.

10. Open Access and APC

COMMUNIA operates as a full open access journal.

The APC supports the costs of making accepted scholarly articles freely and immediately available to readers worldwide.

Payment of the APC does not restrict access to published articles.

All published articles are freely accessible in accordance with the journal's Open Access Policy and are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

11. Financial Transparency

The APC is intended solely to support the operational and publication costs of the journal.

The APC does not constitute payment for acceptance, favorable peer review, or preferential editorial treatment.

COMMUNIA maintains a clear separation between financial matters and editorial decision-making in order to preserve fairness, academic integrity, and editorial independence.

12. APC Statement

COMMUNIA – Journal of Community Engagement and Development charges an Article Processing Charge (APC) of IDR 150,000 (one hundred thousand Indonesian Rupiah) per accepted article.

There is no submission fee, and no APC is charged for manuscripts that are rejected during the editorial or peer-review process.

The APC is payable only after a manuscript has received a final acceptance decision.

APC payment does not influence editorial decisions, peer-review outcomes, or the academic evaluation of manuscripts.

COMMUNIA is committed to maintaining transparent, fair, affordable, and responsible publication-fee practices while preserving editorial independence and academic integrity.