Intellectual Property, Copyright and Licensing

1. Introduction

The International Journal of Agricultural Sciences (IJASC) is committed to protecting intellectual property rights, respecting authors' ownership of their scholarly contributions, and promoting the responsible dissemination and reuse of scientific knowledge. The journal recognizes that clear and transparent policies on intellectual property, copyright, and licensing are essential to maintaining academic integrity, preventing unauthorized use of scholarly work, and facilitating the lawful sharing of research findings.

As a scholarly journal dedicated to agricultural sciences and related disciplines, IJASC publishes research that may include original manuscripts, figures, tables, photographs, maps, datasets, research instruments, software, analytical models, experimental protocols, and other materials. These materials may be protected by copyright or other intellectual property rights and may be subject to ownership, attribution, licensing, confidentiality, or permission requirements. Authors, editors, reviewers, publishers, and readers must therefore understand their respective rights and responsibilities concerning the creation, submission, publication, distribution, and reuse of scholarly content.

IJASC seeks to establish a fair balance between the rights of authors to retain ownership of their original work and the journal's legitimate role in disseminating, preserving, and identifying the formal published version of scholarly articles. The journal also aims to facilitate appropriate reuse of published research while ensuring that authors receive proper attribution, third-party rights are respected, and the terms governing reuse are communicated clearly.

This policy defines the principles governing intellectual property ownership, copyright retention, publishing licenses, third-party material, prepublication and self-archiving, the use of published articles, and the management of copyright-related concerns. It also establishes responsibilities for authors, editors, reviewers, the journal, and other parties involved in the publication process.

IJASC supports transparent and responsible scholarly publishing practices consistent with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, particularly its guidance on intellectual property, and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. The journal will communicate its copyright and licensing arrangements clearly and will apply them consistently to published content.

The specific licensing model adopted by IJASC must be stated explicitly in its official publishing agreement, author guidelines, and published articles. The provisions below propose an author-retention model and a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license, consistent with the model used by JOSI. IJASC should formally confirm this arrangement before publication of this policy.

2. Description

2.1. Intellectual Property

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind that may receive legal protection, including literary and artistic works, scientific publications, illustrations, photographs, designs, inventions, software, databases, and other original outputs.

In scholarly publishing, intellectual property may include:

Manuscripts, articles, reviews, and other scholarly texts.
Figures, tables, diagrams, photographs, illustrations, and maps.
Original datasets and database structures, where applicable.
Software, source code, algorithms, and computational models.
Research protocols, questionnaires, experimental instruments, and analytical frameworks.
Original graphical abstracts, infographics, and other publication materials.
Inventions, patented technologies, plant-related innovations, and other outputs that may be subject to separate intellectual property rights.

The rights applicable to each type of material depend on the nature of the work, applicable law, employment or funding agreements, third-party rights, and any relevant license or contractual arrangement.

2.2. Copyright

Copyright is the legal protection afforded to eligible original works of authorship. Depending on the applicable law, copyright may cover the expression of an idea in a manuscript, figure, photograph, table, illustration, or other original work.

Copyright generally concerns the expression of an idea rather than the underlying scientific fact, discovery, method, or principle itself. However, particular datasets, software, images, and other materials may be subject to copyright, database rights, patents, contractual restrictions, or other forms of protection.

Copyright ownership may belong to the original author, multiple co-authors, an employer, an institution, a commissioning party, or another rights holder, depending on the circumstances and applicable law.

Authors must therefore ensure that they have the legal authority to submit their manuscripts and grant the publication and licensing rights required by IJASC.

2.3. Copyright Ownership and Author Rights

Under the proposed IJASC author-retention model, authors retain copyright in their original articles and do not transfer ownership of copyright to the journal or publisher. Instead, authors grant IJASC the necessary publishing rights to publish, distribute, preserve, index, and identify the article as the original publication, subject to the agreed publishing terms.

Where copyright is jointly owned or held by an employer, institution, funder, or another party, authors must ensure that the appropriate authorization has been obtained before granting a license to IJASC.

Copyright retention does not exempt authors from complying with the journal's publishing agreement, the selected Creative Commons license, third-party rights, or applicable law.

2.4. Publishing License

A publishing license is an authorization granted by the copyright holder that allows a journal or publisher to perform specified activities concerning a scholarly work, such as publishing, distributing, reproducing, preserving, and making the work available to readers.

Under the proposed IJASC model, authors retain copyright and grant the journal a license for first publication and for the technical and administrative activities necessary to publish and preserve the article.

The publishing agreement should specify the scope of the license, including the journal's right to identify itself as the original publisher and to disseminate the formal published version.

A publishing license is distinct from a copyright transfer. Granting a license does not, by itself, transfer copyright ownership to the journal.

2.5. Open Access

Open access refers to the availability of scholarly publications online without subscription or pay-per-view barriers to reading the published content.

The precise rights of readers to reproduce, distribute, adapt, or reuse an open-access article depend on the license under which the work is published. Free access to read or download an article does not automatically authorize every form of reuse.

IJASC should clearly distinguish between the availability of an article without charge and the licensing conditions governing its further use.

2.6. Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons licenses are standardized legal tools that allow copyright holders to communicate the permissions and conditions under which others may use their works.

Under the proposed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license, users may share and adapt licensed material subject to the following conditions:

Attribution (BY): Appropriate credit must be given to the original author or authors and the source, a link to the license must be provided, and changes must be indicated.
NonCommercial (NC): The material may not be used for commercial purposes under this license.
ShareAlike (SA): Adaptations must be distributed under the same license or a license permitted by the applicable ShareAlike terms.

The license does not remove the requirement to respect applicable law, privacy rights, moral rights where applicable, or rights in third-party material that is not covered by the license.

The full license text is available at:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

2.7. Third-Party Copyrighted Material

Third-party material refers to content that is owned or controlled by someone other than the submitting authors or that is subject to rights held by another person or organization.

Examples include:

Figures, photographs, illustrations, and tables from previously published works.
Maps, satellite imagery, and other geospatial materials subject to copyright or license conditions.
Questionnaires, scales, instruments, and assessment tools developed by other researchers.
Substantial quotations from copyrighted publications.
Images, datasets, software, and other materials obtained from external repositories or commercial sources.
Graphical elements or other content taken from websites, reports, books, or databases.

Authors are responsible for determining whether permission is required to reproduce or adapt third-party material and for obtaining the necessary authorization before publication. Where reuse is permitted under an applicable license, statutory exception, or other lawful basis, authors must comply with its conditions and provide appropriate attribution.

2.8. Plagiarism and Unauthorized Reuse

Plagiarism occurs when a person presents another person's words, ideas, data, images, or other intellectual contributions as their own without adequate acknowledgment.

Plagiarism may involve direct copying, inadequate paraphrasing, unattributed reuse of figures or tables, appropriation of unpublished research, or other forms of misrepresentation.

Unauthorized reuse may also occur when copyrighted material is reproduced or adapted without permission or without satisfying the conditions of an applicable license or legal exception.

Proper citation is necessary for academic attribution but does not automatically authorize the reproduction of all copyrighted material. Authors must separately consider copyright permission where applicable.

2.9. Redundant and Overlapping Publication

Redundant or overlapping publication occurs when substantially similar content is published or submitted more than once without adequate disclosure, justification, or cross-referencing.

The reuse of an author's own previously published text, figures, tables, or other materials may raise copyright, attribution, or research-integrity concerns even where the author originally created the material.

Authors must disclose prior dissemination and related publications and ensure that any reuse is appropriately cited, justified, and permitted under the relevant copyright and publishing arrangements.

2.10. Preprints and Prior Dissemination

A preprint is a version of a scholarly manuscript made publicly available before formal peer review and journal publication. Prior dissemination may also include a thesis or dissertation, conference abstract, conference paper, working paper, institutional repository deposit, or other publicly accessible research output.

Prior dissemination does not necessarily constitute a copyright violation or automatically prevent publication. Eligibility depends on the journal's submission policy, the extent of overlap, the status of the material, and any applicable copyright or licensing conditions.

Authors must disclose relevant prior dissemination and provide links or citations where appropriate. IJASC must state clearly in its author guidelines which forms of prior dissemination are acceptable.

2.11. Copyright in Peer Review Reports

Peer review reports may contain original analysis, criticism, recommendations, and other intellectual contributions by reviewers.

The copyright status of a review report depends on applicable law, contractual arrangements, and the terms under which the review was provided. Copyright ownership is distinct from the journal's obligations to maintain review confidentiality.

IJASC will respect reviewers' rights in their reports and will not publicly publish or license review reports without the appropriate authorization, except where a previously disclosed policy or lawful basis clearly permits such use.

2.12. Journal Branding and Website Content

The journal's name, logo, website design, branding elements, and other original materials may be protected by copyright, trademark, or other applicable rights.

Permission to reuse an article published in IJASC does not automatically authorize use of the journal's name, logo, or branding in a manner that implies endorsement, affiliation, or approval.

Any use of journal branding beyond ordinary factual identification or other legally permitted use must comply with applicable law and the journal's requirements.

3. Policy

3.1. Copyright Ownership

Under the proposed author-retention model, authors retain copyright in their original articles published in IJASC. The journal does not require authors to transfer copyright ownership to IJASC or its publisher.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring that they are entitled to publish the work and grant the necessary publishing license. Where the work is subject to joint ownership, employment obligations, institutional policies, funding conditions, or other rights, authors must obtain the required authorization before publication.

The journal's publication of an article does not automatically transfer to IJASC ownership of the underlying research data, inventions, patents, biological materials, software, or other intellectual property that may be governed by separate arrangements.

3.2. License for Publication

Under the proposed model, all articles published by IJASC will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

This license allows users to share and adapt the licensed article for non-commercial purposes, provided that they comply with the applicable attribution and ShareAlike requirements.

Users must give appropriate credit to the author or authors and the original publication, provide a link to the license, and indicate whether modifications have been made. Adapted material must be distributed under the same license or under terms permitted by the applicable license.

Commercial reuse is not authorized by the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license itself. Parties wishing to use the licensed material commercially must obtain separate permission from the relevant rights holder unless another legal basis or license independently permits that use.

The journal must ensure that the selected license is clearly identified on the journal website and on each published article.

This license selection is a proposed policy choice for IJASC and must be formally approved before implementation. The journal must not display the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 designation as an established licensing arrangement until it has adopted the license and incorporated it into its publishing agreement and publication workflow.

3.3. License Granted to IJASC

Upon acceptance, authors will grant IJASC the rights necessary to publish and disseminate the article as the original publication.

The publishing agreement should authorize the journal to:

Publish the article in electronic and other approved formats.
Make the article available through the journal website and its publication platform.
Distribute the article and associated metadata to indexing, discovery, and preservation services.
Preserve and archive the published version.
Identify IJASC as the original publisher and provide the article's bibliographic information and persistent identifier, where applicable.
Undertake technical formatting and accessibility-related adjustments that do not materially alter the scholarly content.
Correct or update publication metadata and issue formal corrections in accordance with journal policy.

The agreement should not be interpreted as transferring copyright ownership to the journal where the author-retention model applies.

3.4. Authors' Rights to Reuse Their Own Work

Subject to the applicable license, third-party rights, and other binding obligations, authors may reuse their own published work for legitimate scholarly and educational purposes.

Such uses may include:

Depositing the published article in an institutional or appropriate repository.
Sharing the article through a personal or institutional website.
Distributing the article for teaching, academic discussion, or non-commercial research.
Reproducing portions of the article in a subsequent scholarly work.
Presenting the findings at conferences or academic meetings.
Incorporating relevant material into a thesis, dissertation, book chapter, or other scholarly output.

Authors must acknowledge the original IJASC publication, provide a full citation and DOI or persistent link where available, and comply with the license applicable to the material being reused.

Reuse rights do not automatically extend to third-party content included in the article where that content is excluded from the article's license or is subject to separate conditions.

3.5. Rights and Responsibilities of Readers and Other Users

Readers may access, download, share, and reuse published articles in accordance with the license displayed on the article and applicable law.

Under the proposed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 model, users must:

Provide appropriate attribution to the author or authors.
Identify IJASC as the original publication source.
Include a link to the original article and the license where practicable.
Indicate whether modifications have been made.
Restrict use to non-commercial purposes under this license.
Apply the relevant ShareAlike conditions to adaptations.

Users must not imply that the authors, IJASC, or its publisher endorse a subsequent use or adaptation unless such endorsement has been explicitly granted.

Users must also respect privacy, confidentiality, moral rights where applicable, and the rights of third parties whose materials may be incorporated into a published article.

3.6. Permissions for Third-Party Material

Authors are responsible for obtaining all permissions necessary to reproduce or adapt copyrighted material owned by third parties when such permission is required.

Permission may be necessary for figures, photographs, tables, maps, substantial text excerpts, proprietary questionnaires, or other protected materials. Authors must also comply with applicable license terms when using materials distributed under open licenses.

Where required, authors must obtain written permission before submitting the final manuscript for publication and must provide evidence of permission to IJASC upon request.

Authors must include appropriate credit lines and identify any restrictions imposed by the rights holder. If permission cannot be obtained, the material must be removed, replaced, redrawn from independently created material where appropriate, or otherwise handled through a lawful alternative.

The journal may delay publication until material copyright issues are resolved.

3.7. Attribution, Citation, and Academic Integrity

All authors must acknowledge sources of information, ideas, methods, data, images, and other intellectual contributions used in their manuscripts.

Citation must be sufficiently specific to enable readers to identify the source. Where material is quoted directly, quotation marks or an appropriate block quotation format should be used, together with the required citation.

Reproduced or adapted figures, tables, and other materials must include appropriate source attribution and permission statements where required.

Authors must not present another person's work as their own, conceal substantial overlap with previous publications, or reuse material in ways that mislead readers regarding originality or ownership.

IJASC will address suspected plagiarism, unauthorized reuse, and redundant publication under its relevant publication ethics policies.

3.8. Preprints, Theses, Conference Papers, and Prior Dissemination

IJASC should clearly define acceptable prior dissemination in its Instructions for Authors.

Subject to the journal's adopted submission policy, authors may be permitted to share preprints, theses, dissertations, conference abstracts, conference papers, or working papers before or during submission.

Authors must disclose relevant prior versions and related publications at submission and provide stable links or citations where available. The existence of a preprint or thesis does not, by itself, establish that the submitted manuscript infringes copyright or constitutes redundant publication.

Authors must ensure that they have the right to reuse material from earlier publications and must comply with the applicable terms governing the earlier work. Where a prior publisher holds relevant rights, authors must determine whether reuse is permitted and whether additional permission is required.

3.9. Self-Archiving and Repository Deposits

IJASC supports the responsible sharing and preservation of scholarly work through institutional repositories, subject repositories, and other appropriate platforms.

Under the proposed author-retention and CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 model, authors may deposit and share their articles in accordance with the license and the journal's repository policy.

Authors should identify the version being deposited, such as the preprint, accepted manuscript, or published version, and provide a full citation and a link to the formal IJASC publication where available.

The journal should publish a separate repository policy or an explicit section of this policy specifying the permitted versions, applicable conditions, and whether any embargoes apply.

If IJASC adopts the proposed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 model with no embargo for author self-archiving, this arrangement must be communicated consistently across the website, author guidelines, and publishing agreement.

3.10. Copyright of Peer Review Reports

Reviewers retain the rights they hold in their original peer review reports, subject to applicable law and the terms agreed with the journal.

IJASC will maintain the confidentiality of the peer review process in accordance with its peer review policy. Reviewer reports will not be publicly published, republished, or licensed for additional use without appropriate authorization, except where an established and disclosed policy or lawful basis permits such use.

The journal may share reports with the relevant authors and editors as necessary for the editorial process, subject to its peer review arrangements. Such sharing does not automatically authorize public dissemination of the report or use beyond the purpose for which it was provided.

Reviewers must also respect the intellectual property and confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not use unpublished material for personal, academic, or commercial advantage.

3.11. Journal Name, Logo, and Branding

The name, logo, visual identity, website content, and other branding elements of IJASC may be subject to intellectual property protection held by the journal, publisher, or relevant institution.

Users may identify IJASC as the source of a published article and cite the journal in accordance with normal scholarly practice. However, reuse of the journal's logo, branding, or other protected materials in a way that implies endorsement or official affiliation requires appropriate authorization unless permitted by applicable law.

The journal's open-access license for articles must not be interpreted as a blanket license for all website content, logos, trademarks, editorial materials, or other assets.

3.12. Copyright Infringement and Disputes

IJASC takes credible allegations of copyright infringement, plagiarism, unauthorized reuse, or other intellectual property violations seriously.

When a concern is raised, the journal may request relevant information from the complainant, the authors, or the relevant rights holder. It may assess publication records, permissions, license terms, source material, and other evidence necessary to understand the claim.

Where appropriate, the journal may temporarily restrict access to disputed material while assessing a credible and serious claim, provided that any such action is proportionate and consistent with applicable obligations.

Depending on the findings, the journal may request attribution or permission corrections, replace or remove material, publish a correction, issue an expression of concern, retract the affected article, or take other appropriate action under its publication ethics procedures.

Where a dispute concerns copyright ownership or legal interpretation that the journal cannot resolve independently, IJASC may recommend that the parties seek advice from the relevant institution, rights holder, or competent legal authority.

3.13. Changes to Licensing Terms

The licensing terms applicable to an article must be stated clearly at the time of publication and must not be changed retrospectively without an appropriate legal and editorial basis.

Where a correction to license information is necessary, the journal must ensure that the correction accurately reflects the rights granted by the copyright holder and any applicable agreement.

A change in the journal's general licensing policy should apply prospectively unless the relevant rights holders agree otherwise or a different arrangement is required by law.

3.14. Publication Costs and Intellectual Property

Any article processing charges, publication fees, or other financial requirements must be disclosed separately in the journal's fee policy.

Payment of publication charges does not transfer copyright ownership to IJASC or confer additional rights to use the journal's name, logo, or other protected materials.

Editorial decisions must remain independent of publication fees and must be based on scholarly merit, ethical compliance, and the journal's editorial criteria.

4. Technicalities to Achieve and Materialise the Policies

A. Copyright and License Information for Published Articles

1. Copyright statement

Every published article should include a clear copyright statement identifying the relevant copyright holder and the applicable year or other required copyright information.

Under the proposed author-retention model, the statement may take the following form:

“Copyright © [Year] by the author(s). This article is published by the International Journal of Agricultural Sciences (IJASC) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.”

This wording must be used only after IJASC has formally adopted the stated license and confirmed that the authors retain copyright under the publishing agreement.

2. License identification

The applicable license should be displayed clearly in the HTML and PDF versions of each article, together with a link to the complete license text.

For the proposed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 model, the link is:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

The journal website should also provide a dedicated page explaining copyright ownership, permitted uses, attribution requirements, commercial-use restrictions, and the conditions for adaptation.

3. Consistency across publication platforms

The copyright and licensing information displayed on the journal website, article landing page, PDF, metadata, repository records, and publishing agreement should be consistent.

Where licensing metadata are supplied to indexing or preservation services, IJASC should ensure that they accurately reflect the license applied to the article.

B. Author Publishing Agreement

Upon acceptance, authors must confirm that they have the authority to publish the submitted work and grant the rights required by IJASC.

The publishing agreement should address:

Confirmation that the authors have disclosed relevant third-party materials and ownership restrictions.
Confirmation that all authors have approved the final manuscript and the proposed publication arrangements.
Confirmation that the authors hold copyright or have obtained the necessary authorization from the relevant rights holders.
The license granted to IJASC to publish and disseminate the article.
The license under which readers may reuse the published article.
Authors' rights to share and reuse their work.
The responsibilities of authors for obtaining third-party permissions.
The procedure for handling copyright disputes or corrections to licensing information.

The agreement must distinguish between the license granted to the journal for publication and the public license applied to the article.

C. Permissions for Third-Party Copyrighted Material

Before publication, authors must identify third-party content and determine whether its reproduction or adaptation requires permission.

Where permission is required, authors should:

Obtain written authorization from the copyright holder or authorized licensing body.
Confirm that the permission covers the intended use, publication format, distribution, and license conditions.
Provide the required attribution and credit line.
Identify any material that is excluded from the article's Creative Commons license.
Provide evidence of permission to IJASC when requested.

Authors must not assume that material available online is free to reproduce or that attribution alone is sufficient to authorize reuse.

Where a third-party work is distributed under an open license, authors must comply with that license's terms. Where a statutory exception or limitation to copyright may apply, authors remain responsible for ensuring that the intended use satisfies the applicable legal conditions.

D. Handling Preprints and Previously Disseminated Material

IJASC should state its prior-publication policy clearly in the Instructions for Authors.

Authors should disclose:

Preprints or working papers related to the submission.
Theses and dissertations containing substantially similar material.
Conference abstracts, posters, proceedings papers, or extended conference papers.
Previously published articles, reports, or book chapters that overlap with the submitted work.
Related manuscripts under review or scheduled for publication elsewhere.

Authors must provide references or links to the earlier material and explain the relationship between the submitted manuscript and any substantially overlapping publication.

The journal will assess whether the overlap is compatible with its submission policy and whether copyright, attribution, or redundant-publication concerns arise.

E. Screening for Originality and Copyright Compliance

IJASC should implement an appropriate process for screening submitted manuscripts for textual overlap and potential originality concerns.

Similarity-detection software may be used as a screening aid. Similarity scores must not be treated as conclusive proof of plagiarism or copyright infringement, because legitimate quotations, references, technical terminology, and properly disclosed overlap may also generate similarity.

Where potential plagiarism, unauthorized reproduction, or substantial overlap is identified, the editor should assess the context, examine the relevant source material, and request clarification where necessary.

Serious concerns should be handled under IJASC's policy on allegations of misconduct and other relevant publication ethics procedures.

F. Self-Archiving and Repository Deposit

IJASC should provide clear instructions on the versions authors may deposit and the conditions for repository sharing.

The instructions should distinguish between:

Preprint: The version made publicly available before formal journal publication.
Accepted manuscript: The version incorporating the changes required by peer review and accepted for publication, before final publisher formatting.
Published version: The final Version of Record published by IJASC.

Authors depositing an article should identify the version accurately and provide a citation to the formal publication, including a DOI or stable link where available.

If the journal adopts CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 with immediate self-archiving and no embargo, these conditions should be stated explicitly. Any future changes to the repository policy should be communicated clearly and applied consistently with existing rights and agreements.

G. Copyright and Licensing of Peer Review Reports

The journal should inform reviewers of the terms governing the confidentiality, use, retention, and potential disclosure of their review reports.

Where IJASC intends to publish peer review reports or reuse them beyond the ordinary editorial process, it should obtain appropriate authorization and communicate the relevant terms to reviewers in advance.

Reviewers must not disclose confidential manuscript content or use unpublished research for purposes unrelated to the review without appropriate authorization.

H. Managing Copyright Complaints and Disputes

A copyright-related complaint should identify the disputed material, the relevant article or publication, the nature of the alleged infringement, and supporting information where available.

IJASC should acknowledge and assess credible complaints through its designated editorial contact. The journal may request additional evidence, contact the relevant authors or rights holders, and seek independent advice when necessary.

Where the complaint is substantiated, the journal should determine the appropriate corrective action, taking account of the extent of the infringement, the applicable rights, the availability of permissions, and the implications for the scholarly record.

Possible actions include correcting attribution, obtaining appropriate permission, replacing or removing material, publishing a correction, restricting access while a serious dispute is assessed, or retracting an article when warranted.

All decisions should be documented appropriately and handled consistently with the journal's publication ethics policies.

I. Responsibilities of Authors, Editors, and Readers

Authors must ensure that their submissions are original, properly attributed, lawfully prepared, and supported by all necessary permissions. They must disclose relevant prior dissemination and cooperate with reasonable copyright inquiries.

Editors and journal staff must communicate licensing terms clearly, assess credible intellectual property concerns fairly, maintain appropriate records, and avoid unauthorized use of submitted manuscripts or review reports.

Reviewers must respect the confidentiality and intellectual property of submitted material and must not exploit unpublished information for personal or professional gain.

Readers and other users must comply with the license displayed on each article, provide appropriate attribution, and obtain additional permission where a proposed use falls outside the applicable license and is not otherwise permitted by law.

J. Policy Review and Implementation

The editorial leadership of IJASC is responsible for implementing and periodically reviewing this policy.

The journal should ensure that copyright ownership, publishing licenses, third-party permissions, prior dissemination, and self-archiving requirements are communicated consistently through the journal website, Instructions for Authors, submission system, publishing agreement, and published articles.

Substantive revisions should be approved through the journal's appropriate governance process and communicated transparently to authors, reviewers, editors, and readers.

References and Related Guidance

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Core Practices: Intellectual Property. Available at: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
COPE, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. Available at: https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.12
Creative Commons. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Copyright. Available at: https://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/

Implementation note for IJASC: Before publishing this policy, the editorial team must formally decide whether authors will retain copyright, which public license will apply to articles, what rights IJASC requires for first publication and preservation, and whether self-archiving will be permitted without an embargo. The journal must also designate a contact point for copyright and licensing inquiries and ensure that the adopted terms are reflected consistently in its publishing agreement, author guidelines, website, and published article files.