Service Delivery &
Fulfillment Policy
Effective Date: January 21, 2026
01 Payment & Transaction Flow
Authors and requesters pay upfront when submitting a manuscript for Formal Expert Review. The publication fee covers expert reviewer compensation, editorial oversight, and permanent publication of the validation record. Payment is required to initiate the review process, and a full refund is automatically issued if we cannot deliver within the service level agreement window.
02 The 21-Day Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Alpha1 guarantees delivery of Formal Expert Reviews within 21 days of payment. A project is considered "Fulfilled" once at least 2 independent reviewers have submitted their completed evaluations through the Alpha1 protocol.
Successful Completion
If at least 2 reviews are submitted within 21 days, the author will be notified and invited to review the feedback. Once the author approves publication, the Alpha1 Reviewed Publication record is finalized and published.
Automatic Refund
If Formal Expert Review is not completed within the 21-day SLA window, a full refund is automatically processed to the original payment method. No action required from the author.
03 Quality and Publication Standards
Once 2+ Formal Expert Reviews are delivered and the author approves publication, the Alpha1 Reviewed Publication is issued. At this point the service has been fully delivered and the fee is non-refundable. Authors retain the right to decline publication after reviewing the expert reports, in which case only the reviewer payout portion is retained as a service fee.
04 Questions & Support
For questions about our fulfillment policy or payment process, please contacteditorial@alpha1science.com.