The Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature must be activated at the site collection level before the Publishing feature can be...

The Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature must be activated at the site collection level before the Publishing feature can be activated.

This error normally comes when you try to create a site collection. In order to avoid this issue just follow these steps:

On the the top-level site in the site collection
Click on Site Actions > Site Settings > 'Site collection features' > 'Site Collection Administration' >Click activate next to Office SharePoint Sever Publishing Infrastructure

or just follow the screens: