No Submission Fee

IJLSS does not charge a manuscript submission fee.

Authors may submit manuscripts and undergo editorial screening and peer review without payment.

Article Processing Charge

An Article Processing Charge is payable only after a manuscript has:

• Completed the peer-review process;
• Received a formal acceptance decision;
• Been approved for publication.

The current publication charges are:

• PKR 20,000 per accepted article for national authors;
• USD 75 per accepted article for international authors.

Payment of the publication fee does not guarantee acceptance. Editorial decisions are based solely on the manuscript’s relevance, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance and peer-review outcome.

Services Supported by the Fee

The Article Processing Charge supports:

• Editorial administration;
• Manuscript processing;
• Peer-review coordination;
• Reviewer honoraria, where applicable;
• Copyediting and proofreading;
• Reference checking;
• Typesetting and article layout;
• DOI registration;
• Website hosting and technical maintenance;
• Metadata preparation and dissemination;
• Digital archiving and preservation;
• Journal administration and long-term sustainability.

Payment Procedure

After formal acceptance, the corresponding author will receive:

• An acceptance letter;
• A publication-fee invoice or payment request;
• Official payment instructions;
• A deadline for payment.

Authors should make payment only through the official payment method communicated by the journal. Proof of payment must be submitted to the editorial office for verification.

Waiver and Discount Policy

Full or partial waivers may be considered for:

• Students;
• Early-career researchers;
• Authors experiencing financial hardship;
• Authors from low-income settings;
• Persons with disabilities;
• Orphaned students or researchers;
• Researchers affected by humanitarian, political or economic crises.

Waiver requests should be submitted before the production process begins and should include an appropriate explanation and supporting evidence.

A waiver request does not influence the editorial or peer-review decision.

Refund Policy

The Article Processing Charge is generally non-refundable after:

• Formal acceptance;
• Commencement of copyediting, typesetting or production;
• DOI registration;
• Online publication;
• Withdrawal requested by the authors after acceptance.

A refund may be considered only where the journal is unable to proceed with publication because of an error attributable to the journal and no substantial production work has been completed.

Withdrawal After Acceptance

Authors who request withdrawal after acceptance may remain responsible for costs already incurred in:

• Editorial processing;
• Copyediting;
• Typesetting;
• DOI registration;
• Production.

Corrections and Retractions

No additional fee will normally be charged for correcting an error introduced during journal production.

Charges may apply where authors request extensive changes after approving the final proof.

Decisions concerning corrections, expressions of concern or retractions are based on publication ethics and are not influenced by payment of the Article Processing Charge.

Sources of Journal Funding

IJLSS may receive financial support from:

• Article Processing Charges;
• Publisher resources;
• Workshops and seminars;
• Educational and professional training programmes;
• Research consultancy;
• Editorial and academic services.

Financial contributors, sponsors or commercial organizations do not control editorial decisions.

Advertising, sponsorship or payment does not influence reviewer selection, peer-review reports, acceptance, rejection, correction or retraction decisions.