Open Access Policy
Open Access Statement
This journal is committed to providing immediate open access to all published content. We believe that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge and accelerates scientific progress.
All articles published in this journal are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Open Access Model
Gold Open Access
We operate a Gold Open Access model:
- Immediate access: All articles are freely available online immediately upon publication
- No embargo period: No delays or restrictions on accessing full-text articles
- No subscription fees: Readers can access all content without registration or fees
- Permanent access: Articles remain freely accessible indefinitely
Copyright and Licensing
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)
All articles are published under CC BY 4.0 license. This license allows users to:
- Share: Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt: Remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
Under the following terms:
- Attribution: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made
- No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits
Copyright Retention
Authors retain copyright of their work:
- Authors hold copyright to their article
- Authors grant the journal first publication rights
- The journal is permitted to publish and distribute the article
- Authors may reuse their work for other purposes (teaching, presentations, repositories)
- No permission needed to reuse author's own work (with proper citation)
Article Reuse and Permissions
No Permission Required
Under CC BY 4.0, users do not need to request permission to:
- Download and print articles for personal use
- Share articles via email or social media
- Include articles in course packs or reading lists
- Translate articles into other languages
- Use figures and tables (with proper attribution)
- Include articles in repositories and databases
- Create derivative works based on articles
Attribution Requirements
When reusing content, provide proper attribution including:
- Author names
- Article title
- Journal name
- Publication year
- Volume and issue (if applicable)
- DOI or URL
- License type (CC BY 4.0)
Example citation:
Smith J, Johnson A. Title of Article. Journal Name. 2026;5(2):123-145. doi:10.xxxx/xxx. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Self-Archiving and Repository Policies
Green Open Access
In addition to our Gold OA model, authors may self-archive their work:
Preprints (Before Peer Review)
- Permitted: Authors may deposit preprints before submission
- Recommended repositories: bioRxiv, medRxiv, arXiv
- Authors should update preprint with link to published version
Accepted Manuscripts (After Peer Review)
- Permitted: Authors may deposit accepted manuscripts immediately
- Can be deposited in institutional or subject repositories
- Should include acknowledgment of journal publication
- Should link to published version using DOI
Published Version (Final)
- Permitted: Published PDF may be archived anywhere
- No embargo period
- Must retain copyright notice and license information
Recommended Repositories
- PubMed Central (PMC)
- Europe PMC
- Institutional repositories
- Subject-specific repositories
- General repositories (Zenodo, figshare)
Archiving and Preservation
Long-Term Preservation
To ensure permanent accessibility:
- LOCKSS: Participating in LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) initiative
- CLOCKSS: Member of CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS)
- PKP PN: Preserved in PKP Preservation Network
- Backup systems: Regular backups of all content
Persistent Identifiers
- DOI: Every article receives a Digital Object Identifier
- ISSN: Journal has registered ISSN
- ORCID: Authors encouraged to use ORCID iDs
Indexing and Discoverability
Open access enhances article visibility through:
- Google Scholar indexing
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- PubMed Central (application in progress)
- Scopus (application in progress)
- Subject-specific databases
- Academic search engines
Funding Compliance
Funder Mandates
Our open access policy complies with requirements of major funders:
- NIH Public Access Policy: Compliant for PMC deposit
- European Commission Horizon Europe: Full compliance
- UKRI Open Access Policy: Meets requirements
- Wellcome Trust: Policy compliant
- Gates Foundation: Meets OA requirements
Author Support
We assist authors in meeting funder OA requirements:
- Automatic deposit in PubMed Central (when applicable)
- Compliance statements for grant reports
- License documentation for funder reporting
Article Processing Charges
Open access publication is supported by Article Processing Charges (APCs):
- See our Article Processing Charges page for current fees
- Waivers and discounts available based on circumstances
- No author will be prevented from publishing due to inability to pay
Benefits of Open Access
For Authors
- Increased visibility and citations
- Broader readership and impact
- Funder compliance
- Copyright retention
- Faster dissemination
For Readers
- Free access to latest research
- No subscription barriers
- Immediate availability
- Rights to reuse content
For Research Community
- Accelerated knowledge sharing
- Enhanced collaboration
- Reduced access inequality
- Improved research reproducibility
Text and Data Mining
CC BY 4.0 license explicitly permits text and data mining:
- No restrictions on automated content analysis
- Machine learning and AI applications allowed
- Researchers may extract and analyze data from articles
- Supports computational research methods
Questions About Open Access?
For more information about our open access policies, contact the Editorial Office.