Open Access Policy

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.1. The Open Access Policy defines the principles of free and unrestricted access to the journal’s published materials in order to promote the dissemination of scientific knowledge, ensure transparency, and support global scholarly exchange.

1.2. The journal adheres to international principles of Open Science, including the recommendations of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), Plan S, and the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

1.3. All materials published in the journal are available to a wide audience without financial, technical, or legal restrictions.

2. KEY TERMS

Open Access – free, unrestricted, 24/7 online access to the full texts of scholarly publications without financial, technical, legal, or other barriers.

Creative Commons (CC) License – a type of public license that allows authors to define the conditions under which their materials may be used by third parties. Common licenses include CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, etc.

CC BY 4.0 – a license that allows copying, distributing, remixing, and using the material for any purpose (including commercial use), provided that the author and source of publication are properly credited.

Preprint – a version of an article that has not yet undergone peer review and is made publicly available prior to publication in the journal.

Postprint – a version of the article after peer review and revisions, but prior to final journal formatting.

Published Version (Publisher’s Version / Version of Record) – the final version of the article that appears on the journal’s website with an assigned DOI.

Self-archiving – the author’s right to deposit a preprint, postprint, or published version of the article in repositories, archives, or personal webpages.

APC (Article Processing Charge) – a fee for processing and publishing an article, which may or may not be applied depending on the journal’s policy.

Repository – an electronic storage system for research materials (institutional, thematic, or public) that ensures long-term preservation and accessibility of publications.

Open Data Format – data made freely accessible for use, re-analysis, and distribution in accordance with citation requirements.

3. LICENSING TERMS

3.1. By default, articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license unless the editorial office establishes a different license.

3.2. The CC BY license allows users to:

  • copy, distribute, and transform the material;

  • use it for any purpose, including commercial use;

  • provided that the author and source of publication are properly credited.

3.3. Authors retain the copyright to their works and grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish them.

4. IMMEDIATE OPEN ACCESS

4.1. The journal applies an Immediate Open Access policy: articles become publicly available immediately after acceptance and publication on the journal’s website.

4.2. The journal does not impose an embargo period for access to articles.

5. PUBLICATION FEES

5.1. The journal’s policy provides for:

  • either no APC (Article Processing Charges),

  • or transparent APCs clearly stated on the journal’s website.

5.2. Acceptance decisions do not depend on the author’s ability to pay APCs.

5.3. If APCs apply, the journal may offer:

  • special conditions for postgraduate students and early-career researchers;

  • full or partial waivers for authors from developing countries;

  • coverage through grants.

6. COPYRIGHT AND USE OF MATERIALS

6.1. Authors retain full economic and moral rights to their articles.

6.2. The journal receives from the authors a non-exclusive right to:

  • publish the material;

  • deposit it in databases and indexing services;

  • store it long-term in digital archives.

6.3. Use of materials by third parties is allowed only under the conditions of the applicable Creative Commons license.

7. ARCHIVING AND PRESERVATION

7.1. The journal ensures long-term digital archiving through:

  • internal backup copies,

  • national or international archives,

  • institutional repositories.

7.2. Archive copies guarantee access to publications even in case of technical failures or discontinuation of the journal.

8. INTEGRATION WITH BIBLIOMETRIC DATABASES

8.1. The journal provides open access for indexing in the following systems (if included):

  • Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine,

  • Open Ukrainian Citation Index (OUCI),

  • Google Scholar,

  • DOAJ,

  • Crossref,

  • Scopus,

  • Web of Science,

  • BASE,

  • OpenAIRE,

  • institutional and thematic repositories.

8.2. Metadata distribution adheres to the principle of openness, ensuring increased visibility and citation potential of the articles.

9. READERS’ RIGHTS

9.1. Readers have the right to:

  • freely read, download, and print articles;

  • distribute materials according to the license;

  • use texts for teaching, research, and secondary analysis;

  • cite published works without restrictions.

10. ETHICAL PROVISIONS

10.1. Open access does not exempt authors from responsibility for:

  • the accuracy of the data,

  • respect for copyright,

  • adherence to research ethics.

10.2. The editorial office is committed to ensuring:

  • transparency of editorial decisions,

  • absence of financial barriers,

  • nondiscriminatory access for authors and readers.

11. FINAL PROVISIONS

11.1. This Open Access Policy enters into force upon approval by the editorial board.

11.2. Amendments may be introduced by decision of the editorial office and are published on the journal’s official website.

11.3. In case of conflict with current legislation, the provisions of this Policy apply only to the extent that they do not violate legal requirements.

11.4. The Policy is public and binding for all authors, editors, reviewers, and readers.