Did you actually submit a paper to this journal without first checking whether they have compulsory page charges? Or did the journal make no mention of page charges until they accepted your MS?

Some journals ask for page charges, but give you the option of not paying if you do not have access to publishing funds (for example, provided by your employer or your research program). You should check this possibility.

If it comes down to you having to pay the publication charges from your own money, I would strongly recommend against doing it, especially if the journal does not publicly state in advance that they apply mandatory page charges. I know of several predatory publishers that accept manuscripts regardless of their quality, as long as the author pays the page charges. Some of them also bait-and-switch the authors by not mentioning page charges on their web site, and asking for payment in connection with acceptance of MS. Impact factors as stated by the publisher can also be falsified or misleading, unless assigned by an independent, internationally recognized source.

I recommend instead that you publish on a journal that applies no page charges. If the MS is good, it should not be a problem to find one that will accept your MS. A lower but reliable impact index is better than not publishing your paper, or paying from your own pocket.

I published about 70-80 papers, mostly on international journals, and the only time I paid (with research money) was for three or four pages of a paper that exceeded the maximum number of free pages. In this case I made an exception to my rule of never paying, because I did not want to shorten the MS or reformat it for a different journal.

Did you actually submit a paper to this journal without first checking whether they have compulsory page charges? Or did the journal make no mention of page charges until they accepted your MS?

Some journals ask for page charges, but give you the option of not paying if you do not have access to publishing funds (for example, provided by your employer or your research program). You should check this possibility.

If it comes down to you having to pay the publication charges from your own money, I would strongly recommend against doing it, especially if the journal does not publicly state in advance that they apply mandatory page charges. I know of several predatory publishers that accept manuscripts regardless of their quality, as long as the author pays the page charges. Some of them also bait-and-switch the authors by not mentioning page charges on their web site, and asking for payment in connection with acceptance of MS. Impact factors as stated by the publisher can also be falsified or misleading, unless assigned by an independent, internationally recognized source.

I recommend instead that you publish on a journal that applies no page charges. If the MS is good, it should not be a problem to find one that will accept your MS. A lower but reliable impact index is better than not publishing your paper, or paying from your own pocket.

I published about 70-80 papers, mostly on international journals, and the only time I paid (with research money) was for three or four pages of a paper that exceeded the maximum number of free pages. In this case I made an exception to my rule of never paying, because I did not want to shorten the MS or reformat it for a different journal.

A good response from Enrico. One should only submit to journals after careful consideration of the author instructions and journal process i.e. publication charges, open access options etc. Are the publication charges 'optional'?

I recommend whatever Enrico has quoted. It is valuable reply. You should go for another reputed journal which don't ask to pay page charges. If you have some sponsor, then you can think on it.

I think publishing a paper with publication charges except in the case as mentioned by Enrico, is not good.

You should approach another journal with no charges.

thank you so much to all and special thanks to Enrico sir…. your valuable answer is very helpful.