Article Processing Charges (APCs)
The Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences (CJSS) is a fully open-access journal operating under a diamond open access model. The Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences (CJSS) is a fully open-access journal operating under a diamond open access model. The journal does not charge authors any fees at any stage of the submission, peer review, editorial, production, or publication process.
Contents
1. Fee Policy
CJSS does not charge any fees at any stage of the publication process. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Submission fees;
- Article processing charges (APCs);
- Editorial processing fees;
- Publication fees;
- Page charges;
- Language editing fees;
- Colour or illustration charges;
- Membership fees; and
- Any other mandatory publication-related charges.
All accepted articles are published with immediate open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), without any financial obligation for authors.
2. Future Changes to Author Fees
CJSS currently operates under a diamond open access model and does not charge authors any fees. The journal has no plans to introduce submission fees, article processing charges (APCs), publication fees, or other publication-related charges.
Should the journal’s funding model change in the future, any introduction of author fees will be announced publicly on the journal website before taking effect. Any newly introduced fees will apply only to manuscripts submitted after the effective date of the revised policy and will not apply retrospectively to manuscripts already under editorial consideration.
3. Paid Services
CJSS does not offer any paid editorial or publication services, including:
- Fast-track review;
- Expedited peer review;
- Expedited publication;
- Priority processing;
- Paid language editing;
- Paid formatting or production services; or
- Any paid service intended to influence editorial decisions, publication priority, or publication timelines.
4. Waiver Policy
As CJSS does not charge any author fees, no waiver or discount policy is applicable.
The journal does not request, accept, or require payments from authors, their institutions, research funders, sponsors, or third parties for the submission, peer review, editorial processing, production, or publication of manuscripts.
5. Funding Statement
CJSS is supported by the University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia, which provides institutional funding for the journal’s editorial, peer review, production, publishing, website hosting, and related operational activities.
This institutional support enables the journal to publish all accepted articles without charging authors or readers.
6. Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are based solely on scholarly merit, including originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, clarity, and relevance to the journal’s scope.
Author fee status, waiver status, institutional support, funding arrangements, or the absence of publication fees do not influence editorial assessment, peer review, or publication decisions.
Editorial decisions are entirely independent of the journal’s funding arrangements and institutional support.
This policy applies equally to all submissions, regardless of the authors’ affiliation, country, institutional status, funding status, or ability to pay.
