Open Access Policy

The Archives of Biotechnology and Biomedicine is a fully open-access journal. Our Open Access Policy reflects our belief that knowledge should be free, universal, and accessible to all, regardless of geography, institution, or financial status. This policy ensures that every article published is immediately and permanently available online without subscription fees, paywalls, or registration barriers. By adopting open-access principles, we support the acceleration of scientific discovery, the democratization of information, and compliance with international mandates.

Core Principles of Open Access

• Immediate Availability: All content is available online immediately upon publication.
• Free Accessibility: Readers do not pay for access. There are no subscription or download fees.
• Reuse Rights: Articles are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0), granting wide reuse rights with attribution.
• Author Retention: Authors retain copyright of their work, empowering them to reuse and disseminate it freely.
• Global Equity: Access to knowledge is equitable, supporting researchers, practitioners, and policymakers worldwide.

Licensing Terms

The journal publishes all content under the CC BY 4.0 International License. This license allows unrestricted distribution, adaptation, and commercial reuse of content, provided the original authors and source are credited. It is the most permissive open-access license, designed to maximize the impact and reach of published research. Licensing metadata is embedded in each article file, ensuring compliance and transparency across repositories and indexing services.

Compliance With International Mandates

Our Open Access Policy complies with major global mandates, including:

• Plan S: Ensures immediate open access with no embargo periods.
• Horizon Europe: Meets EU requirements for open research outputs.
• NIH Public Access Policy: Guarantees that federally funded research is publicly available.
• Wellcome Trust and UKRI: Aligns with UK funders requiring open dissemination of outputs.
• UNESCO Recommendations on Open Science: Supports inclusive, global access to research.

Authors publishing in our journal can be assured of compliance with their funders’ requirements.

Author Rights and Responsibilities

Authors retain copyright of their work and are encouraged to:

• Deposit preprints, accepted manuscripts, and final published versions in institutional or subject repositories.
• Distribute articles to colleagues, students, and professional networks.
• Reuse published figures, tables, and text in derivative works with attribution.
• Ensure proper acknowledgment of third-party materials included in submissions.

Reader Rights

Readers may freely:

• Download and read articles without charge.
• Share articles with colleagues and communities.
• Translate content into other languages for educational purposes.
• Incorporate findings into teaching, training, and professional practice.
• Build upon published research to create derivative works.

These rights enhance the journal’s role as a resource for science, education, and policy.

Sustainability of Open Access

Open access requires sustainable financial models. To cover costs of peer review, editorial management, digital preservation, and hosting, the journal applies an Article Processing Charge (APC). The APC model ensures that content remains free for readers while operations are maintained. Waivers and discounts are available to authors from low- and middle-income countries, or those facing financial hardship.

Archiving and Preservation

The journal guarantees the long-term preservation of open-access content through:

• Participation in LOCKSS and CLOCKSS for distributed archiving.
• Institutional repository deposits for redundancy.
• Publisher-managed secure servers with multiple backups.
• XML (JATS) and PDF/A formats for permanent readability.

These measures ensure that open-access content remains permanently available, regardless of technological change or publisher transitions.

Transparency in Fees and Licensing

Transparency is a cornerstone of our Open Access Policy. APC rates are clearly published, waiver policies are openly described, and licensing terms are stated unambiguously on every article. This transparency empowers authors and readers to make informed choices and builds trust in the publication process.

Advantages of Our Open Access Model

The benefits of our open-access policy extend to all stakeholders:

• For Authors: Greater visibility, higher potential citations, and compliance with funder mandates.
• For Readers: Immediate, free access to cutting-edge research.
• For Educators: Open educational resources that enhance teaching and training globally.
• For Funders: Assurance that research outcomes are widely disseminated and publicly accessible.
• For Society: Democratized access to scientific knowledge supporting innovation and evidence-based policy.

Future Directions

As open-access publishing evolves, we remain committed to innovation and transparency. Planned enhancements include:

• Integration with ORCID for seamless author attribution.
• Altmetrics to track societal impact of open-access content.
• Expansion into data and code sharing aligned with open science principles.
• Partnerships with institutional consortia to reduce APC burdens globally.

These initiatives will strengthen the journal’s role as a leader in ethical, equitable, and impactful open-access publishing.