Open Access Policy

Policy Overview

The International Journal of Clinical Virology (IJCV) publishes all content as full open access, ensuring that every reader can freely read, download, share, and reuse scholarly material without subscription or registration barriers. The journal’s policy aligns with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), DOAJ Best Practice Guidelines, OASPA Principles of Transparency and Best Practice, and COPE Ethical Framework.

Gold Open Access Model

IJCV operates on the Gold Open Access model, meaning that accepted manuscripts are made immediately and permanently accessible online. Authors retain copyright, and all articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

“Open access enables knowledge without borders—empowering innovation, healthcare, and education worldwide.”

Key Principles of the Open Access Policy

• Accessibility: All research outputs are freely available online immediately upon publication.
• Transparency: No hidden charges or access restrictions for readers.
• Reuse Rights: Readers may copy, distribute, and adapt work with proper attribution.
• Integrity: Authors’ moral rights are respected; the work’s original context must be preserved.
• Interoperability: Metadata and content are structured for global indexing through OAI-PMH and Crossref.

Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0)

All IJCV articles are distributed under the CC BY 4.0 license. Users are free to share and adapt material for any purpose, including commercial use, provided appropriate credit is given. This approach encourages collaboration, transparency, and wider dissemination of scientific findings.

Author Copyright Retention

Authors retain full copyright of their published work. By submitting to IJCV, authors grant the publisher a non-exclusive license to publish and distribute their articles worldwide under the CC BY 4.0 terms. This ensures authors maintain control over their intellectual property while benefiting from maximum visibility and reuse.

Benefits for Authors and Readers

• Immediate worldwide visibility of research outputs after acceptance.
• Compliance with funder requirements (e.g., Plan S, Horizon Europe, NIH).
• Increased citation potential through global accessibility.
• Facilitated collaboration across disciplines and institutions.
• Improved educational and clinical practice impact.

Compliance with Funding Agency Mandates

IJCV’s open-access model meets the requirements of major funding agencies that mandate open dissemination of research outputs, including Plan S and Horizon Europe. Authors can deposit their final published versions in institutional repositories without embargo and link back to the original DOI.

Archiving and Preservation

All articles are archived in trusted repositories including Portico, LOCKSS, and CLOCKSS for long-term preservation. Additionally, IJCV supports harvesting via OAI-PMH to ensure discoverability and redundant archival across platforms.

Data Availability and Transparency

IJCV encourages authors to share data underlying their articles to promote reproducibility and scientific integrity. Datasets may be made available in repositories such as Zenodo or Dryad and should include DOIs for citation.

Fee Structure and Waivers

To cover publication costs, IJCV applies Article Processing Charges (APCs). Fee waivers or discounts are available for authors from low-income countries or in cases of financial constraints. Details are provided under the Waiver Policy and APC Policy.

Ethical and Legal Compliance

Open access publishing does not diminish editorial quality standards. IJCV adheres to COPE and ICMJE ethical frameworks, ensuring peer-review integrity, data authenticity, and transparency in all stages of publication.

Repository and Self-Archiving Policy

Authors are encouraged to deposit their accepted or published versions in institutional repositories, personal websites, and subject archives without restriction. All self-archived versions should include a citation and link to the article DOI on IJCV’s website.

Reuse and Attribution Requirements

When using IJCV content under CC BY 4.0, users must:

• Credit the author(s) and original source.
• Provide a link to the Creative Commons license.
• Indicate if changes were made to the original material.

Example citation: “This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).”

Interoperability and Metadata Sharing

IJCV exposes structured metadata using OAI-PMH and Schema.org formats for machine-readable indexing by Crossref, DOAJ, Google Scholar, and OpenAIRE. This interoperability ensures sustainable visibility of each published article.

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

Every article receives a unique DOI registered via Crossref, providing a permanent link and metadata integration with citing databases worldwide. DOIs facilitate accurate citation tracking and long-term retrievability.

Open Access and Public Engagement

Open access enables knowledge translation from bench to bedside by allowing clinicians, researchers, students, and policymakers to freely access scientific data. IJCV supports public communication of research through media summaries and layperson explanations when appropriate.

Contact and Support

Editorial Office – International Journal of Clinical Virology (IJCV)
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.clinvirologyjournal.com/

Read Open Access Statement