Food Systems, Safety & Sustainability (FSSS) is a fully open-access scholarly journal. To support editorial administration, peer-review coordination, professional production, digital publication, metadata services, long-term accessibility, and journal infrastructure, a standard Article Processing Charge (APC) of USD 500 applies to each accepted article, subject to any approved waiver, discount, or exemption.

The APC is charged only after a manuscript has completed the applicable editorial and review procedures and received a formal acceptance decision. Authors are not required to pay an APC when submitting a manuscript or while it is undergoing editorial assessment or peer review.

APC Amount

The standard APC is assessed per accepted article. It is not calculated according to the number of authors, manuscript length, page count, figures, or supplementary files. Exceptional production requirements, where applicable, must be communicated to and agreed with the authors in advance.

What the APC Supports

The APC contributes to the organisational, technical, editorial, and production costs associated with scholarly publication, including:

• Online manuscript-submission and editorial-management infrastructure.
• Technical screening and peer-review administration.
• Editorial coordination and author correspondence.
• Copyediting and manuscript production preparation.
• Typesetting and preparation of the Version of Record.
• Online publication and open-access dissemination.
• Article metadata preparation and distribution.
• Registration and maintenance of digital object identifiers, where applicable.
• Website hosting and journal-platform maintenance.
• Digital preservation and long-term accessibility arrangements.
• Publication-ethics administration and post-publication procedures.
• General administrative and technical support.

No Submission or Review Charges

FSSS does not charge a manuscript-submission fee or a separate peer-review fee. Authors are not required to make any payment for initial editorial assessment or for the external peer-review process where applicable to their article category.

Any request for an APC payment before formal acceptance should be treated as unauthorised. Fees relating to an optional service separately requested by an author, if any, must be distinguished from the APC and confirmed in writing through an official journal or publisher communication channel.

When the APC Becomes Payable

The APC becomes payable only after the following conditions have been satisfied:

1. The manuscript has completed the editorial assessment and review procedures applicable to its article category.
2. All revisions required for acceptance have been approved.
3. An authorised editor has issued a formal acceptance decision.
4. The Editorial Office has issued an official invoice or payment notice.

Editorial acceptance is not conditional upon advance payment. However, an accepted article will not normally proceed to final publication until the applicable APC has been paid or an approved waiver, discount, or institutional payment arrangement has been confirmed.

Editorial Independence

Payment of an APC cannot secure manuscript acceptance or override any editorial, ethical, or production requirement. Decisions concerning acceptance, rejection, and revision are based on scholarly and editorial considerations, including:

• Relevance to the journal's aims and scope.
• Originality and scholarly contribution.
• Methodological soundness.
• Research integrity and ethical compliance.
• Quality and transparency of reporting.
• Findings from external peer review or other applicable editorial review procedures.
• The professional judgement of the journal's authorised editors.

An author's ability or willingness to pay must not form part of the scholarly assessment of a manuscript. Financial and administrative information relating to APC payment, waiver eligibility, or institutional support is to be handled separately from the academic evaluation process.

The publisher, sponsors, institutional partners, advertisers, payment-service providers, and other parties with financial interests must not interfere with peer review or editorial decision-making.

Waivers and Discounts

Authors who are unable to pay the full APC may apply for a waiver or discount in accordance with the journal's separate Waiver and Discount Policy.

Requests should normally be submitted during the initial manuscript-submission process or before a final editorial decision is issued. Requests submitted after acceptance may be considered where exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated, but approval is not guaranteed.

Decisions on waivers and discounts are administrative and financial decisions made separately from scholarly evaluation. Applying for financial assistance must not disadvantage a manuscript during editorial screening, peer review, or the acceptance process.

Articles That May Be Exempt

The following types of content may be exempt from the standard APC at the discretion of the journal:

• Editorials formally commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief.
• Publisher or Editorial Office announcements.
• Correction notices.
• Retraction notices.
• Expressions of concern.
• Responses requested by the editors in connection with published correspondence.
• Other non-research content formally designated as exempt before publication.

Unsolicited Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, Short Communications, Methods Papers, Data Papers, Case Studies, Policy Analyses, Perspectives, and other applicable submissions are normally subject to the standard APC unless an exemption, waiver, or discount has been approved. Exemption is not automatic solely because a manuscript belongs to a particular article category.

Special Issues

Articles submitted to special issues are normally subject to the same standard APC as comparable articles submitted to regular issues.

Guest editors do not have independent authority to promise, approve, or guarantee fee waivers or discounts unless the arrangement has been formally authorised by FSSS and Panorama Scholarly Group.

Any special funding arrangement, institutional sponsorship, or approved APC reduction associated with a special issue must be communicated clearly to affected authors. Such arrangements must not alter the journal's editorial standards, review requirements, or scholarly decision-making.

Institutional or Funder Payment

The APC may be paid by:

• An author.
• The author's university or research institution.
• A research funder.
• A scholarly society.
• An authorised project or department.
• Another approved third party.

Responsibility for arranging payment remains with the corresponding author unless the Editorial Office has confirmed an alternative arrangement in writing.

Authors are encouraged to verify whether their institution, university library, research funder, grant, or open-access publishing programme can cover the APC before making payment arrangements.

Invoices and Payment Information

Following formal acceptance, the corresponding author or designated payer will receive an official invoice or payment notice containing:

• The journal title.
• The manuscript title.
• The manuscript identification number.
• The amount and currency payable.
• The payer information available to the journal.
• Any approved waiver or discount.
• The payment deadline.
• The authorised payment method.
• The official payment instructions.

Payment security: Authors should make payments only through payment channels formally authorised by the FSSS Editorial Office or Panorama Scholarly Group. Requests from personal accounts, unofficial intermediaries, unknown payment links, or unauthorised individuals should be independently verified before any payment is made.

Currency, Taxes, and Transaction Costs

The standard APC is denominated in United States dollars (USD). Where payment is made in another currency, the amount received must be equivalent to the invoiced USD amount after currency conversion, subject to the applicable payment instructions.

Applicable taxes, statutory charges, banking fees, currency-conversion costs, intermediary-bank charges, and third-party payment-platform fees are not included in the standard APC unless expressly indicated on the invoice.

The payer is responsible for arranging payment of the full invoiced amount. Additional charges known to the journal or publisher will be disclosed before payment where applicable. The treatment of taxes and transaction costs remains subject to applicable law and the terms communicated in the official invoice.

Payment Deadline

The payment deadline will be stated on the official invoice or payment notice. Authors who require additional time should contact the Editorial Office before the stated deadline.

Failure to pay the applicable APC or obtain an approved waiver or other payment arrangement may delay production and publication. Prolonged non-payment without communication may result in administrative closure of an accepted manuscript, subject to prior notice to the corresponding author and the journal's applicable procedures.

Refunds

Because the APC becomes payable only after formal acceptance, payments are generally non-refundable once production work has begun, except where a refund is warranted under the circumstances described below or required by applicable law.

Circumstances in which a refund may be considered:

• A duplicate payment has been made.
• An incorrect amount has been charged.
• The journal is unable to publish an accepted article for reasons attributable to the journal or publisher.
• Another exceptional administrative or payment-processing error has occurred.

Circumstances in which a refund will not normally be issued:

• The authors request withdrawal after production work has begun.
• Publication is delayed because the authors have not supplied required files, corrections, permissions, or responses.
• A published article is subsequently corrected, retracted, or withdrawn because of author error, an ethical breach, a research-integrity concern, or a legal problem attributable to the authors.
• The authors are dissatisfied with indexing outcomes, citation performance, media attention, or article usage.
• The authors are unable to obtain reimbursement from their institution or research funder.
• Currency-conversion or payment-provider charges differ from the payer's expectations.

Where a refund is approved, non-recoverable banking, payment-processing, currency-conversion, or administrative costs may be deducted where applicable and lawful. Refund decisions should take account of the circumstances of the transaction, the stage of production, and any relevant legal requirements.

Withdrawal after Acceptance

Authors requesting withdrawal of a manuscript after formal acceptance must provide a written explanation supported by the agreement of all authors.

Where substantial editorial, copyediting, typesetting, metadata, or other production work has already been completed, the journal may retain all or part of the APC to cover costs incurred, subject to applicable law. The amount retained, if any, will be assessed according to the production stage and relevant circumstances and communicated to the authors.

Changes to the APC

FSSS may revise its standard APC to reflect changes in publishing, infrastructure, preservation, production, regulatory, or administrative costs. Any revised fee will be communicated through the journal's official website.

The APC normally applicable to a manuscript is the amount publicly displayed on the journal website at the time of its initial submission, unless:

• A different amount was agreed in writing.
• The manuscript was withdrawn and subsequently submitted as a new submission.
• An approved institutional or special-issue arrangement applies.
• The authors were notified of a revised fee before completing the initial submission.

Changes to the APC will not be applied retrospectively to accepted articles without prior notice and written justification. Any applicable fee adjustment must be consistent with the journal's published terms and relevant legal requirements.

Transparency

FSSS is committed to transparent author-fee practices. Its standard APC, potential exemptions, waiver and discount arrangements, payment stage, and principal financial conditions are disclosed publicly through the journal website.

No editor, reviewer, guest editor, agent, or external representative is authorised to impose an undisclosed publication fee or request payment outside the journal's established procedures. Financial arrangements must not compromise editorial independence or the integrity of scholarly publication.

Contact

Questions concerning invoices, payment arrangements, institutional funding, waivers, discounts, refunds, or authorised payment methods should be directed to the FSSS Editorial Office through the official contact information provided on the journal website.

Authors contacting the Editorial Office about an accepted manuscript should provide the manuscript title, submission identification number, corresponding author's name, and invoice number where available.

APC summary: The standard Article Processing Charge is USD 500 per accepted article. There is no submission fee or separate peer-review fee. The APC becomes payable only after formal acceptance and an official payment notice. Applicable waivers, discounts, exemptions, taxes, transaction costs, and refunds are governed by the relevant published policies and payment terms.