Last updated: August 18, 2026

Article Processing Charge

INTRODUCTION

All articles submitted by Baishideng Publishing Group (BPG) journals undergo editorial assessment and independent external peer review before editorial decisions are made. Acceptance of a manuscript is based solely on its scientific quality, originality, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal’s scope. Editorial decisions are made independently of the authors’ ability or willingness to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs). APC payment is requested only after acceptance and does not influence editorial decisions. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

OPEN-ACCESS

All BPG journals are open-access (OA). An APC for OA publication will be invoiced upon the acceptance of each manuscript and paid by the author, the author’s institution, or the research funder to BPG before publication. The APC covers the costs of peer review, copyediting, typesetting, unlimited color figures, supplementary materials, online publication, DOI registration, Crossref deposition, long-term digital preservation, indexing support where applicable, and journal management.

RULES OF APC

The applicable APC category is determined by the Editorial Office based on the information provided at the time of manuscript submission. Authors must satisfy all eligibility requirements before the manuscript is accepted for publication. BPG reserves the right to verify eligibility and to determine the applicable APC category in accordance with its APC policies.

For unsolicited manuscripts, the following APC categories apply:

(1) Standard APC

Applicable to general manuscripts that do not qualify for any preferential APC category.

(2) Young Scholar APC

Applicable to manuscripts for which the first author is younger than 45 years on the date of manuscript submission.

(3) Editorial Board Member/Peer Reviewer APC

Applicable to manuscripts for which the first author or corresponding author is currently serving as an editorial board member or registered active peer reviewer of the submitting BPG journal. This preferential APC category applies only to the journal with which the author is registered and is not transferable to any other BPG journal.

(4) Special APC

BPG participates in the Research4Life programme. Authors from eligible Research4Life Group A countries receive a full APC waiver, while authors from Group B countries are eligible for Editorial Board Member/Peer Reviewer APC.Eligibility is determined according to the Research4Life country list in effect on the date of manuscript submission.

APC waivers for invited manuscripts apply only to invitations issued directly by the Editorial Office.

All applications for APC waivers and discounts should be made at the point of manuscript submission; requests made during the review process or after acceptance are unable to be considered. Waivers and discounts cannot be combined unless otherwise approved by BPG. Decisions on APC waivers and discounts are final.

PAYMENT METHOD

All APCs listed by BPG are quoted in United States Dollars (USD). BPG does not charge additional taxes or administrative processing fees. APCs may be paid by bank transfer, credit card, or other payment methods accepted by BPG.

REFUND POLICY

APCs are non-refundable once an article has entered the production process, except where publication cannot proceed due to reasons attributable to BPG.

APC STANDARDS

All BPG publications' APC standards are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 BPG publications’ APC charging standards

2025 JIF: 2025 Journal Impact Factor, Journal Citation Reports (Copyright © 2026 Clarivate).

2026 JAII: 2026 Journal Article Influence Index^TM from Reference Citation Analysis (Copyright © 2026 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc). Calculated as: Total Citations in Crossref ÷ Total Articles.

ESCI: Emerging Sources Citation Index.

PMC: PubMed Central® is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM).

PubMed: PubMed® comprises more than 35 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central® and publisher websites.

RCA: Reference Citation Analysis.

SCIE: Science Citation Index Expanded.

N/A: Not applicable. 

APCs are subject to change without prior notice. The APC applicable to a manuscript is the APC in effect on the date of manuscript acceptance unless otherwise specified by BPG. BPG reserves the right to revise this APC policy at any time. Updated versions will be published on the official BPG website and become effective on the date specified therein.