Archiving Policy

Archiving, Preservation & Repository Policy

International Journal of Research and Development (IJRD)
Official Journal of Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës (UAMD)

1. Purpose

The International Journal of Research and Development (IJRD) is committed to ensuring the long-term preservation, integrity, and permanent accessibility of all published scholarly content. This policy describes the journal’s archiving, digital preservation, and repository practices, in line with international publishing standards and best practices.

2. Publishing platform

IJRD is published using Open Journal Systems (OJS), which supports structured metadata, persistent identifiers, interoperability, and long-term digital preservation.

3. Content preserved

The journal preserves and archives:

  • All peer-reviewed content (research articles, reviews, editorials)

  • Corrections, errata, retractions, and expressions of concern

  • Article metadata (authors, affiliations, abstracts, keywords, references)

  • Supplementary files (datasets, tables, figures, multimedia) when published

  • Issue-level and journal-level metadata

The Version of Record (VoR) is the final, published version available on the IJRD OJS platform.

4. Digital preservation and archiving

4.1 LOCKSS preservation

IJRD participates in the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) program.

  • Content is preserved in a distributed network of libraries

  • Multiple copies of each article are stored independently

  • Content can be restored automatically in the event of data loss or platform failure

This ensures permanent availability even if the journal website becomes temporarily or permanently unavailable.

4.2 OJS internal archiving and backups

In addition to LOCKSS:

  • The OJS platform maintains regular database and file backups

  • Redundant storage systems are used to minimize the risk of data loss

  • Backup integrity is periodically verified

4.3 File formats

IJRD uses preservation-friendly formats:

  • PDF (primary full-text format)

  • HTML (where available)

  • Supplementary formats such as CSV, TXT, XML, PNG/JPEG, MP4, and other widely adopted open formats

If required, file format migration may be performed to ensure long-term accessibility while maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

5. Open access and licensing

All articles published in IJRD are open access and distributed under the following license:

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Under this license:

  • Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full texts

  • Proper attribution to the original author(s) and journal is required

  • Commercial use is not permitted without prior authorization

6. Repository and self-archiving policy (Green Open Access)

6.1 Author rights

Authors retain copyright and are permitted to archive:

  • The published Version of Record (VoR), or

  • The Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM)

6.2 Where authors may deposit

Articles may be deposited in:

  • Institutional repositories (including UAMD’s repository)

  • Subject-based repositories

  • Authors’ personal or departmental websites

  • Non-commercial scholarly sharing platforms

6.3 Conditions of deposit

When depositing, authors must:

  • Cite the article as published in IJRD

  • Provide a direct link to the official IJRD article page

  • Clearly indicate the version deposited (VoR or AAM)

  • Include the CC BY-NC 4.0 license information

No embargo period applies unless explicitly stated otherwise.

7. Integrity of the scholarly record

  • Published articles are not removed from the record except in exceptional legal or ethical circumstances

  • Corrections and retractions are issued as separate, linked notices

  • If content must be removed, a tombstone page with bibliographic information and reason for removal is maintained whenever legally possible

8. Continuity of access

In the event of:

  • Platform migration

  • Publisher change

  • Website restructuring

IJRD commits to:

  • Maintaining persistent article URLs

  • Ensuring LOCKSS-preserved content remains accessible

  • Preserving citation integrity and discoverability

9. Policy review

This policy is reviewed periodically to ensure compliance with:

  • International archiving standards

  • Indexing requirements (Scopus, DOAJ, etc.)

  • Technological and institutional developments