It is my understanding that AEQ is a pay-to-play operation. At least when I wrote this original post, AEQ would publish an article only if a fee was paid. No reputable academic journal would require an author to pay to publish an article. Certainly, there can be additional costs when an editor or author wants to publish a book and does not fulfill their responsibilities for copyediting, proofreading, etc. However, journals and their editors, like you say, reject the submission and move on when there is a problem with a manuscript (e.g., in need of editing, late, etc.). There is something rotten about AEQ and their practices, so I would recommend you steer your mentee away from them.

Best, Jason

I should add that the idea of paying for revising is weird to me. I have published extensively, and I understand when a book has too many late corrections, which requires reformatting, etc., which really does mean extra costs for the publisher that are then passed on to the author (per the contract!!!) because the author messed up.

However, if an author of a journal article does not submit revisions in a timely manner, journals just say “never mind” and move on. I was reading on the AEQ website that the costs are for when the author does not do something correctly??? My experience is that a journal then just outright rejects the submission. End of story. If the author can’t follow the guidelines, that article is out.

Am I missing something here? Clarification would be appreciated.

Keith Folse
University of Central Florida

Thanks for commenting on this post. Yes, they do make unusual demands of contributors that don’t jive with common practices in the wider academic community. It’s not necessarily a scam in the sense that they take the money and run, but it is a pay-to-play scheme. This is a bad situation for someone who participates in this scheme, because it doesn’t look good on a CV, and your work won’t reach your intended audience.

Best of luck with your work.

Jason