AT Payment Connect for OJS

Collect APCs online, without chasing bank transfers

Many journals still collect publication fees by bank transfer and payment screenshots, and editors match them by hand. AT Payment Connect adds online payment to OJS's own publication-fee workflow. When the editor requests the fee, the author pays by UPI, card, net banking or wallet, and OJS marks the fee paid automatically.

It's an integration, not a payment gateway. Payments go directly to your own Razorpay or Cashfree merchant account. Altechmind never receives, holds or settles your money and takes no commission. You pay only your payment provider's usual fees.

How it works

1. The editor accepts the submission and requests the publication fee in OJS, as usual.
2. The author opens the payment link and sees a clear Confirm payment page: amount, payee, your terms and refund policy.
3. The author pays on Razorpay's or Cashfree's secure checkout. Card, UPI and bank details never touch your site.
4. AT Payment Connect confirms the payment directly with the provider and marks the fee paid in OJS.
5. The author gets a receipt email with a PDF. The editors get an email, and the payment appears in the submission's Activity Log and in your Payments log.

Features

• Razorpay or Cashfree: use your own account and keys; one provider per journal.
• UPI, cards, net banking, wallets: whatever your merchant account has enabled.
• Paid only when confirmed: the fee is marked paid only after the provider confirms exactly the OJS amount, and only once. If the author closes the browser after paying, the provider's notification completes it anyway.
• Clear pages for authors: "Payment successful" with the receipt, "Payment did not go through" with Try paying again, "Not paid yet" with Pay now. Authors stay logged in throughout.
• Editors are told: an email to the submission's editors and a line in the Activity Log when the fee is paid.
• Receipts: an editable OJS email plus a PDF receipt with your payee name, address and GSTIN (optional). A payment receipt, not a tax invoice.
• Payments log: a summary of paid, open, failed and refund-needed payments; filters, search, CSV export, receipt download and re-send, Test connection, and a record of admin changes.
• Test mode: separate test and live keys; TEST MODE is shown clearly to authors, on receipts and in the log.
• Safe settings: provider keys are stored encrypted and never shown again; a set-up checklist shows what is missing.
• Fair fallback: if online payment can't be offered (for example the licence is not active), authors see your own payment instructions or contact details. Payments already started always complete.
• Indexing untouched: article pages, citation tags (Google Scholar), OAI-PMH, feeds and sitemaps stay exactly the same.
• Built for OJS 3.5: uses OJS's own payment workflow (Distribution › Payments). No changes to OJS core or your theme.
• Upgrade-safe: settings, keys and payment records are kept on every update; updates install from AT Gateway.

Data, privacy & compliance

• You are the merchant. Payments go to the journal's (or publisher's) own Razorpay or Cashfree account, under your own agreement and KYC with that provider. Refunds, chargebacks and settlements are handled in your provider dashboard. Altechmind supplies software only: it is not a payment gateway, payment aggregator or intermediary, and never receives, holds or settles funds.
• No card data on your site. Card numbers, CVV, UPI IDs, OTPs and bank logins are entered only on the provider's hosted checkout. Your server receives only the provider's order ID, payment ID and signature, and verifies the payment directly with the provider.
• Minimal data, kept on your server. Payment records (author name and email from OJS, amount, provider IDs, status, receipt number) and PDF receipts stay in your own OJS installation. Provider keys are stored encrypted. The mobile number Cashfree requires is passed to Cashfree only and is not stored.
• Shared only with your provider: amount, payment reference, author name and email (plus mobile number for Cashfree).
• Nothing to Altechmind about authors, submissions or payments. Only AT Gateway's daily licence check (licence signature, product, site and journal address, OJS and PHP versions).
• No tracking: no analytics or tracking scripts; only the provider's own checkout on the payment page.
• Your journal's own pages: it publishes terms and conditions, a refund and cancellation policy and a contact page (payment providers require them), and mentions online fee payment and the provider in its privacy statement.

This describes how the software works and is not legal advice. Check your own policies (including under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act) with your legal adviser or CA.

Requirements

• OJS 3.5 (PHP 8.2 or later); HTTPS strongly recommended
• AT Gateway 1.0.8.0 or later (free): AT Gateway
• Your own Razorpay or Cashfree merchant account. For live payments it must be activated (KYC done by the journal or publisher). Test mode works before activation.
• The journal's payment currency set to INR
• Links to your terms, refund and cancellation policy, and contact page

Licence, updates and support

• Per journal: each journal that enables the plugin uses one seat. Choose 1, 3 or 5 journals.
• One-time payment, including 2 years of updates and support. After 2 years the plugin keeps working; renew to keep receiving updates and support.
• Support covers the plugin: installation questions, bugs and how-to (see the knowledge base). Setting up your Razorpay or Cashfree account, KYC, or your hosting is not included; choose Set-up by Altechmind if you want us to do the set-up for you.

Not included in this version (coming soon)

• Other fee types (article or issue purchase, subscriptions); this version handles the publication fee (APC)
• Currencies other than INR
• PayU
• Refunds from inside OJS (refund in your Razorpay or Cashfree dashboard)
• GST tax invoices (the PDF is a payment receipt)

Documentation

• User Guide
• FAQ & Troubleshooting

Legal

Payments are processed by Razorpay or Cashfree under the journal's own merchant account. Altechmind does not receive, hold or settle funds. Razorpay and Cashfree are trademarks of their respective owners; OJS and Open Journal Systems are projects of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP). AT Payment Connect is not affiliated with or endorsed by PKP, Razorpay or Cashfree.