Last updated: 11 August 2026
The Charge
Ascend: Journal of Interdisciplinary Scholarship and Innovation (AJISI) is an open-access journal committed to providing unrestricted access to its published articles for readers across the globe. To sustain the expenses associated with editorial administration and online publication, AJISI imposes an Article Processing Charge of US$48.98 (or PhP 3,000 as of 1 August 2026) for each accepted manuscript. If an author pays in a different currency, any minor currency conversion discrepancies will be clarified in advance by the editorial office.
| Stage | Charge |
|---|---|
| Submission | No charge |
| Peer review | No charge |
| Publication, on acceptance | US$48.98 (PhP 3,000) |
| Reading, downloading, sharing | No charge, ever |
What it Covers
The APC contributes to legitimate journal operations, including but not limited to:
- Managing the editorial office — coordinating submissions, handling correspondence, and overseeing the workflow of the publication process
- Editing articles for clarity and consistency in language and format
- Preparing articles for online publication, including layout and formatting for PDF and HTML
- Adding metadata so readers can find articles online, and ensuring they are hosted properly
- Checking for plagiarism, similarity index, and AI-generated text
- Keeping the journal’s website and archives accessible for the long term
When Is the APC Charged?
AJISI does not impose any fees at the time of manuscript submission, since AJISI safeguards editorial independence and upholds the principle of fairness. Instead, an Article Processing Charge is only requested after the manuscript has successfully passed through the peer review process, received an instruction from the Editor-in-Chief, and received an official acceptance decision from the handling editor.
The payment of this fee, or the approval of a fee waiver, does not influence the manuscript’s progression into peer review. Editorial decisions regarding acceptance are made exclusively on the scholarly merit of the work, its alignment with the journal’s scope, the rigour of the methodology employed, and adherence to ethical standards.
No Fast-Track or Paid Acceptance
AJISI is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards, which are essential for protecting the reputation and integrity of both the journal and the individuals involved in its operation. We firmly do not engage in practices such as expedited reviews, guaranteed acceptance, or preferential editorial treatment in return for financial incentives.
The timeline for manuscript reviews is determined by reviewer availability and the complexity of the manuscript, ensuring a thorough and fair evaluation. The APC has no bearing on the outcome of peer review or on editorial decisions.
Payment Procedure, Invoicing and Documentation
Upon acceptance, the editorial office will send an Author Declaration and Copyright Assignment Form providing necessary information, along with payment details, instructions, and the required reference information — the manuscript ID and the corresponding author’s name. An acknowledgement of payment will be issued for the authors’ documentation.
Refund Policy
If an APC payment has been made and the publication is subsequently withdrawn due to verified editorial error, proven ethical breach, or duplicate processing, AJISI will review the case and may issue a full or partial refund depending on the stage of production already completed. Requests must be made in writing by the corresponding author.
Transparency and Publication Ethics
AJISI is dedicated to maintaining high standards of research integrity, confidentiality, and editorial independence. The journal mandates ethical approvals when necessary, requires conflict-of-interest disclosures, conducts plagiarism checks, and ensures accurate authorship attribution following the CRediT taxonomy.
Any incidents of suspected misconduct — such as plagiarism, data fabrication, unethical research practices, or authorship disputes — may lead to rejection, retraction, or other corrective measures in line with established best practices in scholarly publishing. See the publication ethics policy.