PUBLICATION FEE POLICY
PUBLICATION FEE POLICY
In order to maintain the academic independence of the journal, READS and the administration of SPCRD Global Publishing have decided to charge NO FEE for submissions and publication of research articles. The journal is independently and voluntarily managed by the Editorial Board on an honorary basis whose members are an academic staff from renowned institutions/universities.
FINANCIAL MODEL
In order to meet its expenditures to run the journal, a unique business model is framed by the SPCRD, READS, and the publisher, SPCRD Global Publishing based on the following sources:
A. Volunteer Admin Staff and Editorial Board comprising of Ph.D. scholars and faculty members who render their services without any fixed salary.
B. Funding support from South Punjab Center for Research and Development (SPCRD), Pakistan which seeks to promote the Green Model of Publishing of its publishing division, SPCRD Global Publishing, with no paywalls and an open access policy.
C. Fast Track Review and Publication process is offered to authors (Optional) wherein the authors are charged a nominal fee of USD 400/equivalent for quickly paid reviews from reviewers and fast publication process on account of language editing and proofreading services by the publisher otherwise it is the sole responsibility of authors and also providing feedback to the submitting authors under this track. The authors who want to submit their articles on the fast track, need to mention in the email otherwise will be considered a routine submission.
D. The interested authors are offered to buy 4 reprints of the journal issues for a total nominal charge of USD 150 including the courier charges.
E. The Funding from HEC Pakistan is an important component to meet the financial needs for the publication of this journal. The journal has sought recognition and funding from Higher Education Commission, Pakistan to cover the partial part of the cost of running the journal.
F. Annual Conference/seminar Fees: The South Punjab Center for Research and Development (SPCRD) holds annual national and international conferences/seminars to further its mission to highlight economic and development issues in developing economies. The SPCRD utilizes the funds generated from conference/seminar fee to support its annual conferences, seminars and academic activities including support to SPCRD Global Publishing to run its Green Publishing Model.
G. Language editing and proofreading are required by the journal editorial team for the papers accepted for publication after an independent review process completion. The publisher may charge a fee for template setting, language editing, and proofreading services to cover part of the publication cost only on fast-track publications. The authors, however, are not restricted to use SPCRD Language and Editing Services and rather may opt to use other professional services as offered by international organizations.
In short, the publication cost of READS is met from the HEC financial support, donations, conference/seminar fees, SPCRD consultancy charges, language editing, and proofreading charges, and sponsorships.
SUBMISSION PROCESS:
The prime objective of the publication process is to ensure the academic & research quality and thoroughness of the procedure. The review process is an integral part of the publishing process of the scholarly submissions made to the journal through online submission or journal's email submission@reads.spcrd.org. All papers submitted to the journal undergo various steps of the rigorous double-blind peer-review process by which both reviewer’s and author’s identity is not disclosed to each other to ensure independent review and avoid any potential conflict of interests.