The journal is committed to maintaining transparency regarding indexing services and publication charges. Authors should understand that journal publication and third-party indexing are separate processes governed by different organizations.

About Journal Indexing

The journal may be covered by recognized indexing and abstracting databases from time to time. These may include Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, or other academic databases and discovery services.

However, these databases operate independently from the journal and publisher. Their organizations determine which journals and articles are included, how long coverage continues, when records are updated, and whether a journal remains eligible for indexing.

For this reason, the publisher cannot control or guarantee the future status of the journal in any external database.

An indexing service may, according to its own policies:

• add or remove a journal;

• suspend or discontinue coverage;

• change the years or volumes covered;

• delay the appearance of individual articles; or

• revise its indexing criteria at any time.

The journal therefore makes no promise that indexing in any specific database will remain permanent or uninterrupted.

Where indexing is essential to an author's degree, promotion, funding, institutional requirement, or professional assessment, authors are advised to confirm the current status directly through the relevant database before making a publication decision.

What the Publication Fee Covers

The Article Processing Charge or other publication fee is collected for the work required to process and publish an article.

Depending on the journal workflow, this may cover activities such as manuscript screening, editorial handling, coordination of peer review, revisions, copy preparation, formatting, typesetting, proofreading, digital production, website publication, and article hosting.

The publication fee is therefore associated with publishing services provided by the journal and not with the purchase or guarantee of indexing in Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, or any other database.

Refund Policy After Publication

After a manuscript has completed the required editorial and peer-review process, received acceptance, and been published on the official journal website, the publication service is considered completed.

For this reason, publication fees are not refundable after the article has been published.

Indexing Changes Do Not Create Refund Eligibility

The publisher cannot be held responsible for changes made independently by indexing organizations.

For example, if an indexing service later stops covering the journal, removes it from its database, changes its coverage period, or does not index a particular article, such circumstances do not constitute grounds for a refund.

This applies whether the indexing change occurs before the article is published, shortly after publication, or at a later date.

Refund requests, payment disputes, cancellations, or compensation claims made solely because of a change in third-party indexing status will therefore not be accepted.

Author Responsibility

Before submission or payment, authors should evaluate whether the journal meets their academic and institutional requirements and should independently verify any indexing information that is important to them.

By proceeding with submission, acceptance, and payment, the author confirms understanding of this policy and acknowledges that publication services and third-party indexing are independent of one another.