Publication fees, often called article processing charges (APCs) in the case of open access journals, are necessary to cover various expenses involved in the publication process. These fees help sustain the operations of the journal, including maintaining the online platform, conducting plagiarism checks, archiving, quality assurance, indexing, editing, proofreading, and website maintenance.

For open access journals, where articles are freely accessible to readers, these fees become crucial as they replace subscription revenues. Authors, their institutions, or research funders typically cover these costs once an article has been accepted for publication. This model ensures that research findings are widely accessible while also supporting the sustainability of scholarly publishing.