Revenue and Funding Model

The Journal of Responsible AI & Ethics (JRAIE) is committed to transparency regarding the financial arrangements that support its publishing activities. The journal recognizes that readers, authors, reviewers, editors, and other stakeholders should be able to understand whether financial considerations affect access to content, manuscript processing, or editorial decision-making.

JRAIE operates under an open-access publishing model and currently does not charge authors an Article Processing Charge (APC). The journal also does not require payment as a condition of manuscript submission, editorial screening, peer review, acceptance, or publication.

The journal is published by GalaxiaUniverse, which is responsible for the administration of the journal's publishing operations. Any financial arrangements associated with the operation of the journal are kept separate from scholarly evaluation and editorial decision-making.

Current Author Fee Model

JRAIE currently applies the following author fee structure:

Publishing Activity Current Charge
Manuscript Submission USD 0
Initial Editorial Assessment USD 0
Peer Review USD 0
Article Processing Charge (APC) USD 0
Publication Fee USD 0
Open-Access Fee USD 0

Authors are therefore not required to make a financial payment to obtain consideration or publication of a manuscript in JRAIE.

If the journal's fee structure changes in the future, the applicable charges, payment conditions, waiver arrangements where relevant, and effective date will be disclosed clearly on the journal website before the revised charges are applied to new submissions.

Financial Independence of Editorial Decisions

Financial considerations must not determine the scholarly outcome of a manuscript.

Decisions concerning whether a manuscript is sent for peer review, revised, accepted, rejected, corrected, or retracted are based on relevant academic and ethical considerations, including:

  • Relevance to the journal's aims and scope

  • Originality and scholarly contribution

  • Methodological appropriateness

  • Quality and reliability of the analysis

  • Ethical compliance

  • Research integrity

  • Clarity of presentation

  • Reviewer assessments

  • Editorial evaluation

Authors do not receive preferential treatment on the basis of financial contribution, sponsorship, institutional status, commercial relationships, or any other economic consideration.

Similarly, the absence of a financial contribution must not disadvantage an author during editorial evaluation.

Relationship With the Publisher

JRAIE is published by GalaxiaUniverse. The publisher provides and administers the publishing framework necessary for the journal's operation.

Publisher responsibilities may include activities associated with journal administration, website operation, editorial infrastructure, production, publication management, metadata administration, and other operational functions required for scholarly publishing.

The publisher's administrative and financial responsibilities are distinct from the academic evaluation of individual manuscripts.

The publisher must not require an editor to accept or reject a manuscript for financial, commercial, promotional, or institutional reasons.

Revenue Transparency

JRAIE seeks to ensure that any material source of financial support associated with the journal is represented accurately and transparently.

The journal will not describe itself as being supported by a grant, institution, sponsor, advertising arrangement, society, government body, commercial organization, or donor unless such support actually exists.

Where a material external funding arrangement is introduced, the journal should disclose the nature of that support where appropriate and identify any relationship that could reasonably be relevant to the journal's editorial independence.

Financial support does not confer authority over peer review or publication decisions.

Grants and Institutional Support

If the journal receives grant funding or institutional financial support, such support should be used in a manner consistent with the journal's scholarly and publishing objectives.

A funding organization or supporting institution must not be permitted to determine:

  • Which manuscripts are accepted or rejected

  • Which reviewers are appointed

  • The conclusions of published research

  • The outcome of ethical investigations

  • Whether an article is corrected or retracted

  • The editorial position of the journal

Where a funding relationship is relevant to understanding journal governance or potential conflicts of interest, appropriate disclosure should be made.

Sponsorship

JRAIE may consider legitimate sponsorship arrangements where they are compatible with the independence and academic character of the journal.

Any sponsorship must remain separate from the manuscript evaluation process.

A sponsor must not receive guaranteed publication, favorable editorial treatment, influence over reviewer selection, control over research conclusions, or authority over editorial decisions in exchange for financial or other support.

Sponsored activities or content, where applicable, should be clearly identified so that readers can distinguish them from independently evaluated scholarly content.

Advertising Revenue

If advertising is accepted by the journal, advertising arrangements must be governed separately from the peer-review and editorial process.

Advertising revenue must not influence manuscript acceptance, rejection, placement, interpretation, or editorial priority.

Advertisements should be clearly distinguishable from scholarly content and should not imply endorsement by JRAIE, its editors, reviewers, or editorial board.

Further provisions concerning commercial advertising are addressed in the journal's Advertising Policy.

Donations and Financial Contributions

Any donation or voluntary financial contribution received in support of the journal must not provide the contributor with editorial privileges or influence.

Financial contributors must not be permitted to:

  • Influence manuscript decisions

  • Select or remove reviewers

  • Require publication of particular articles

  • Suppress unfavorable research findings

  • Interfere with publication-ethics investigations

  • Determine editorial conclusions

Where a significant contribution creates a potential competing interest, the relationship should be disclosed and managed appropriately.

Special Issues and Externally Supported Collections

Funding or sponsorship of a special issue, thematic collection, conference collection, or other publication initiative must not compromise the journal's normal standards of editorial evaluation and peer review.

Manuscripts submitted to externally supported collections remain subject to the journal's applicable editorial and ethical requirements.

Guest editors, sponsors, institutions, or funding organizations must not be given authority to guarantee acceptance of submitted manuscripts.

Where external financial support is materially connected with a special publication initiative, the relationship should be disclosed to readers.

Editorial Board and Reviewer Payments

Participation in editorial or peer-review activities should not create an undisclosed financial relationship that could compromise impartial evaluation.

If editors, reviewers, consultants, or other contributors receive compensation for particular journal-related responsibilities, such arrangements should be structured so that payment is not dependent on manuscript acceptance, citation performance, or favorable editorial outcomes.

No reviewer should receive a financial incentive to recommend acceptance of a manuscript.

Authors and Commercial Relationships

Authors are not required to purchase products, memberships, advertising services, editing services, proofreading services, citation services, or other commercial products from the publisher or any affiliated organization as a condition of publication.

Use of optional third-party or publisher-associated services, where available, must not influence the editorial evaluation of a manuscript.

Authors remain free to select appropriate independent services when assistance with language editing, statistical analysis, formatting, or manuscript preparation is required.

No Payment for Favorable Editorial Outcomes

JRAIE does not permit payments intended to obtain:

  • Guaranteed acceptance

  • Guaranteed publication

  • Favorable reviewer recommendations

  • Accelerated acceptance without appropriate editorial evaluation

  • Preferential editorial treatment

  • Manipulation of citations or publication metrics

  • Changes to editorial decisions for financial reasons

Any attempt to influence an editorial outcome through an improper financial arrangement may be treated as a publication-integrity concern.

Financial Conflicts of Interest

Editors, reviewers, authors, and other individuals participating in the publication process should disclose relevant financial relationships that could reasonably influence their responsibilities.

Potential financial conflicts may include employment, consultancy relationships, commercial ownership, equity interests, patents, paid advisory roles, research sponsorship, or other financial relationships relevant to the manuscript or editorial decision.

Disclosure of a financial relationship does not necessarily prevent participation or publication. Relevant conflicts should, however, be assessed and managed appropriately.

Funding Disclosure in Published Articles

Authors should disclose funding received for the research reported in their manuscripts.

Where applicable, the funding statement should identify the funding organization and relevant grant information.

Authors should also disclose whether a funder had a role in:

  • Study design

  • Data collection

  • Data analysis

  • Interpretation of results

  • Manuscript preparation

  • The decision to submit the manuscript for publication

Where no external research funding was received, authors may state this explicitly.

Research funding disclosed by an author is separate from the financial model used to operate the journal.

Open Access and Financial Accessibility

JRAIE provides open access to its published scholarly content.

Readers are not required to pay subscription or article-access charges to read published articles through the journal website.

The journal's current USD 0 APC model is intended to separate an author's ability to pay from the editorial consideration of a manuscript.

A no-fee model does not reduce the scholarly or ethical requirements applied to submissions. All manuscripts remain subject to the journal's established editorial assessment and peer-review procedures.

Changes to the Financial Model

The journal may review its financial model in response to changes in publishing infrastructure, operational requirements, scholarly communication practices, or other legitimate considerations.

Any future introduction or modification of:

  • Article processing charges

  • Submission charges

  • Publication charges

  • Sponsorship arrangements

  • Advertising arrangements

  • Institutional funding

  • Grant support

  • Other material sources of journal revenue

should be disclosed transparently on the journal website.

Changes should not be applied retrospectively to authors without clear prior disclosure.

Accuracy of Financial Information

JRAIE seeks to ensure that financial information published on its website is accurate and consistent across relevant journal pages.

Information concerning APCs, publication charges, waivers, sponsorship, advertising, or other financial arrangements should not be described in a misleading or ambiguous manner.

Where no fee applies, the journal should state this clearly rather than requiring authors to contact the journal solely to determine whether publication charges exist.

Separation of Revenue and Editorial Governance

The journal recognizes that financial sustainability and editorial governance serve different functions within scholarly publishing.

Financial arrangements support journal operations, whereas decisions concerning the scholarly record remain an editorial responsibility.

Accordingly, individuals or organizations providing financial support must not be permitted to override established procedures relating to:

  • Peer review

  • Editorial assessment

  • Research integrity

  • Conflicts of interest

  • Complaints and appeals

  • Corrections

  • Expressions of concern

  • Retractions

This separation is intended to protect the credibility and independence of the journal.

Transparency and Accountability

The Journal of Responsible AI & Ethics (JRAIE) is committed to maintaining transparent financial practices appropriate to scholarly publishing.

The journal will disclose material changes to its fee or funding arrangements and will avoid claims concerning sponsorship, institutional support, grants, or other financial relationships that cannot be substantiated.

The central principle of the journal's financial model is that financial considerations must remain separate from scholarly judgment. Manuscripts are evaluated according to academic quality, relevance, methodological integrity, ethical compliance, and the standards of the journal rather than an author's ability or willingness to provide financial support.