Challenges in Sustainability operates under a Gold Open Access publishing model, ensuring that all published articles are freely and permanently accessible to readers worldwide.

This model enhances the visibility, citation, and global impact of research outputs.

To sustain the editorial, technical, and operational costs associated with open-access publishing—including manuscript handling, peer review, professional editing, production, hosting, indexing, and long-term preservation—an Article Processing Charge (APC) is applied to accepted manuscripts.

The APC applies only to manuscripts that have successfully passed peer review and been formally accepted for publication.

No fees are charged for submission or peer review.

The current APC is USD 800 per accepted article.

This fee covers the entire publication workflow, including editorial coordination, peer review, English editing, typesetting, online publication, DOI registration, and archiving. All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, ensuring open access and unrestricted reuse with proper attribution.

The journal operates on a sustainable business model. All APC income is dedicated to covering the actual costs of publication and maintaining the open-access platform.

Typical allocations include:

• Editorial and peer-review management

• Professional language editing and formatting

• Website hosting, platform maintenance, and archiving

• DOI registration, indexing, and metadata management

• Publication ethics oversight and plagiarism screening

• Author support and reviewer recognition initiatives

If a surplus remains, it is reinvested primarily in journal development, platform improvement, and the advancement of open-access infrastructure, ensuring that all financial activities support the mission of scholarly communication and open science.

Challenges in Sustainability is committed to promoting equitable access to publication opportunities.

The journal provides partial or full APC waivers and discounts for eligible authors who face financial constraints.

Eligibility includes:

• Corresponding authors affiliated with institutions in low- or middle-income countries (as defined by the World Bank);

• Authors without institutional or external research funding;

• Students and early-career researchers;

• Authors affected by economic hardship, conflict, or natural disaster.

Waivers and discounts are granted at the sole discretion of the editorial office, depending on the journal’s budget and the number of requests received.

Priority is given to requests that demonstrate genuine financial need and scholarly merit.

Requests for waivers or discounts must be submitted by the corresponding author at the time of manuscript submission by contacting the editorial office.

Applications must include:

1. A concise statement of financial need; and

2. Supporting documentation (e.g., institutional affiliation, funding status, or student identification).

All applications are reviewed confidentially and independently.

The outcome of a waiver request has no influence on the peer-review or acceptance process.

The APC amount is reviewed annually to ensure it reflects the actual cost of publication and remains fair to the academic community.

Any changes will be announced in advance on the journal’s website.

The journal maintains full transparency in financial and editorial operations.

All APC revenue is responsibly managed and reinvested directly into publishing services and infrastructure.

Financial allocation and expenditures are periodically reviewed by the publisher and the editorial board to ensure adherence to open-access best practices.

This policy guarantees that authors’ contributions are used to enhance publication quality, accessibility, and scholarly value.

Challenges in Sustainability adheres to the ethical and best practice guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA).

The journal also follows international standards set by Crossref, CLOCKSS, and other trusted organizations for citation accuracy and digital preservation.

As a journal indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, Challenges in Sustainability maintains the highest standards of editorial integrity, transparency, and responsible publishing.

Once an article has been published online or assigned a DOI, the APC is non-refundable.

Refunds may only be considered in cases where publication cannot proceed due to editorial or technical errors attributable to the publisher.

If an author withdraws an accepted article before publication, a partial refund may be granted depending on the stage of production.

All refund decisions are made at the discretion of the editorial office and are final.

For all inquiries regarding APCs, waivers, or discounts, please contact:

Editorial Office—Challenges in Sustainability: cis@acadlore.com.

All correspondence is handled with professionalism and confidentiality.

The editorial office is committed to supporting authors and advancing global open-access publishing.

This APC Policy fully complies with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, jointly established by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME.

It reflects the journal’s enduring commitment to responsible open-access publishing, financial transparency, and equitable participation in global research dissemination.