AT Payment Connect FAQ & Troubleshooting
On this page
Setting up for the first time? Start with the AT Payment Connect User Guide. Don’t have the plugin yet? Get AT Payment Connect.
General
Does Altechmind take a commission or handle the money?
No. Payments go straight from the author to your own Razorpay or Cashfree account. Altechmind never receives, holds or settles funds. You pay only your payment provider’s normal fees.
Do I need both Razorpay and Cashfree?
No. Use whichever you already have. One provider is active per journal, and you can switch later in the settings.
Which payment methods can authors use?
Whatever is enabled on your merchant account: usually UPI, debit and credit cards, net banking and wallets. The plugin does not restrict methods; your provider decides which ones to show.
Can authors pay in USD or another currency?
Not in this version. Fees are charged in INR only, and the journal’s payment currency must be INR.
Which fees are supported?
The publication fee (APC) that the editor requests when accepting a submission. Article or issue purchases and subscriptions are not handled in this version.
Which OJS versions are supported?
OJS 3.5 (PHP 8.2 or later). OJS 3.4 and earlier are not supported.
Does it work on a site with several journals?
Yes. Each journal that switches the plugin on uses one seat of your licence and has its own provider account, keys and settings.
Does the author get a GST invoice?
The author gets a payment receipt (email and PDF), not a tax invoice. If you need GST invoices, issue them as you do today. You can print your GSTIN on the receipt via Payee address on receipts.
Payments & Authors
What if the author closes the browser right after paying?
The payment still completes. Your provider notifies your site directly (Razorpay through the webhook, Cashfree automatically), the fee is marked paid and the receipt is emailed. If the author opens the payment status page later, it checks with the provider again.
Can an author pay the same fee twice?
Not through the plugin. Paying again always reuses the same order, a fee is recorded as paid exactly once, and a paid fee cannot be paid again. If a payment arrives after the fee was already settled in OJS (for example an editor marked it paid), it is recorded as Paid – refund needed and your journal contact is emailed.
The author’s payment failed. What now?
The status page says “Payment did not go through” with the provider’s reason and a Try paying again button. The fee stays unpaid. No money is taken for a failed attempt; if a bank shows a deduction, the bank returns it automatically.
The author sees “Payment not confirmed yet”
The provider is still processing the payment, or could not be reached for a moment. Ask the author to wait a few minutes and click Check again; the payment confirms automatically. They should not pay again while this message is shown.
How do editors know a fee was paid?
- The submission’s Payments menu shows Paid.
- The editors assigned to the submission (or the journal contact) receive the email “Publication fee paid: submission #…”.
- The submission’s Activity Log has the line “Publication fee paid online: …”.
- The payment is listed in the Payments log with the provider’s IDs and the receipt.
How do I refund a payment?
In your Razorpay or Cashfree dashboard. The plugin does not change a payment that is already Paid when you refund it there, so afterwards set the submission’s Payments › Publication Fee to Unpaid or Waived in OJS yourself.
Does the plugin change the acceptance email?
No. OJS sends the acceptance email and then a separate Payment Request Notification with the payment link. You can reword that email in Settings › Workflow › Emails; keep {$queuedPaymentUrl} in it, because that is the payment link.
Can I test before going live?
Yes. Choose Test mode and enter your provider’s test keys. Payers see a TEST MODE banner, receipts and the log are marked test, and no real money moves. Test mode works even while your provider account is still being verified.
Troubleshooting
The status box shows a ✗
Each line says what is missing. Typical fixes: tick Payments will be enabled and choose AT Payment Connect under Payment Plugins; set Currency to INR; set the Article Processing Charge; fill in the provider keys, payee name and the three policy URLs; activate the licence in AT Gateway. Save and reload the page.
“The payment provider refused the keys”
The keys don’t match the selected Mode. Test keys work only in Test mode, live keys only in Live mode. Razorpay test key IDs start with rzp_test_, live ones with rzp_live_. Copy the key and secret again from your provider’s dashboard (no spaces) and click Test connection.
“The payment provider could not be reached”
Your server could not connect to Razorpay or Cashfree. Try again in a moment. If it keeps happening, ask your hosting provider to allow outgoing HTTPS (port 443) to api.razorpay.com or api.cashfree.com (and sandbox.cashfree.com for Cashfree test mode).
Authors see “Online payment not available”
A journal manager who opens the same page sees the reason. The most common ones:
| Reason shown to managers | Fix |
|---|---|
| AT Payment Connect is not activated for this journal. | Activate the licence in AT Gateway (Licences & updates), and make sure AT Gateway is enabled. |
| AT Payment Connect is not fully set up. | Complete Distribution › Payments until every status line is ticked. |
| Online payment works in INR only. | Set the journal’s payment currency to INR. |
| Only an author of this submission can pay this fee online. | The person signed in is not an author of that submission. Ask the author to sign in with their own account. |
| This OJS runs in sandbox mode. | [general] sandbox = On in config.inc.php blocks live payments. Turn it off on the live site, or use Test mode. |
The payment window does not open
The message “The payment window could not be loaded” usually means an ad or script blocker, a strict browser privacy setting, or no internet connection. Ask the author to allow checkout.razorpay.com or sdk.cashfree.com, or try another browser. JavaScript must be on.
After paying, the page stays on “Complete your payment”
Ask the author to click Already paid? Check the payment status. The status page asks the provider and shows the result. If you just updated the plugin, a reload (Ctrl+F5) helps once; updates load the new script automatically.
Razorpay payments only confirm when the author comes back
The Razorpay webhook is missing or wrong. Check Razorpay Dashboard › Webhooks: the URL must be exactly the Razorpay webhook URL from the status box, the events order.paid, payment.captured and payment.failed must be ticked, and the secret must match the webhook secret saved in OJS (test and live have separate webhooks). Deliveries should show response 200. A 401 means the secrets don’t match.
The author did not receive the receipt
Check that OJS can send email (other OJS emails arrive) and the spam folder. In the Payments log, the row says whether the receipt was emailed; click Resend to send it again, or Download receipt and send the PDF yourself.
“Keys can’t be stored securely”
The OJS files directory (files_dir in config.inc.php) is not writable, or PHP’s OpenSSL lacks AES-256-GCM. Ask your site administrator or host to fix this; keys are never stored unencrypted.
The author sees “Too many attempts”
For security, one author can start at most 20 new payment attempts per hour. Ask them to wait a while, then use the same payment link.
UPI is not offered in the payment window
Your provider decides which methods to show. In test mode, UPI is often not enabled on new or not-yet-verified accounts; use test cards or test net banking instead. On a live, activated account, enable UPI in your provider’s dashboard if it is missing.
Data, Privacy & Compliance
Does my server or Altechmind ever see card or UPI details?
No. Card numbers, CVV, UPI IDs, OTPs and bank logins are entered only on Razorpay’s or Cashfree’s own secure checkout. Your journal’s server receives only the provider’s order ID, payment ID and a signature, and then checks the payment directly with the provider. Altechmind receives nothing.
Who is the merchant? Who handles refunds and disputes?
Your journal (or publisher) is the merchant, through its own Razorpay or Cashfree account. Refunds, chargebacks, settlements and the provider’s KYC are between you and your provider. Altechmind provides software only and is not a payment aggregator, payment gateway or intermediary for funds.
What does the plugin store, and where?
Only on your own OJS server, in your OJS database and files directory:
- payment records: the author’s OJS user, name and email (already in OJS), fee name, submission ID, amount, currency, provider, test/live, our reference, the provider’s order and payment IDs, status, receipt number and dates;
- PDF receipts, stored outside the web root;
- your provider keys, encrypted (AES-256-GCM) and never shown again;
- an admin activity list (who changed settings, by setting name only, tested the connection or re-sent a receipt).
Never stored: card or bank details, UPI IDs, CVV or OTPs. The mobile number asked for Cashfree is passed to Cashfree for that payment only and is not saved.
What is sent to the payment provider?
Only what the provider needs to create and show the payment: the amount and currency, a payment reference, the author’s name and email, and for Cashfree the author’s mobile number and an internal customer ID. Notes with the journal and submission ID help you find the payment in your provider’s dashboard.
What does Altechmind receive?
Nothing about authors, submissions or payments. The only contact with Altechmind is AT Gateway’s licence check, once a day: a signature made with your licence key (not the key itself), the product, your site and journal address (for seats) and the OJS and PHP versions.
Does the plugin track readers or authors?
No. There are no analytics, cookies of its own or tracking scripts. The only outside script is your provider’s own checkout, loaded only on the payment page.
Do I need PCI DSS certification?
Card data never touches your server, because payment details are entered only on the provider’s hosted checkout. This is the set-up payment providers recommend for merchants who don’t handle card data themselves. Your provider may still ask you for a self-declaration during their KYC; confirm the exact requirement with your provider.
What should my journal publish?
- Terms and conditions, a refund and cancellation policy and a contact page. Payment providers require them; the plugin links them on the payment page.
- In your privacy statement: that publication fees can be paid online through your payment provider (name it), which author data is shared with it (name, email, and for Cashfree the mobile number), and that payment records are kept for your accounts.
- Your fee amount and any waiver policy, as you do today.
Under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, your journal decides why and how author data is used. The plugin keeps that data on your own server and shares only the minimum with your provider. This page is a technical description, not legal advice; check your policies with your legal adviser or CA.
How are payments protected against tampering?
- The amount always comes from OJS, never from the browser.
- A fee is marked paid only after the provider confirms, server to server or by a signed webhook, that exactly that amount was captured.
- Webhooks are verified with the provider’s signature; forged or replayed notifications are refused.
- Every action checks the user’s role and a security token; payment and admin pages cannot be embedded in other sites.
Does it affect indexing or Google Scholar?
No. Article and issue pages, citation tags, OAI-PMH, feeds, sitemaps and “How to cite” stay exactly the same, with the plugin on or off and after updates.
Licence & Updates
What happens if my licence expires or AT Gateway is switched off?
Payments that already started still complete. New online payments pause, and authors see your own payment instructions or contact details until the licence is active again.
How do I update?
AT Gateway shows new versions under Licences & updates and installs them with one click after verifying Altechmind’s signature. You can also upload the new file via Upload a new plugin › Upgrade. Settings, keys and payment records are kept.
How do I get support?
Open a ticket from My Account › Support on the Altechmind Store or email support@altechmind.com. Include the payment Reference from the status page or log. Never send your provider keys or secrets.
Last updated on October 6, 2026