Digital Preservation and Archiving Policy

1. Purpose and Scope

The International Journal of Multidisciplinary Inquiry (IJMI) recognizes the importance of preserving scholarly publications and maintaining their accessibility, integrity, and discoverability over time.

Digital preservation supports the continuity of the scholarly record by reducing the risks associated with technological change, data loss, system failure, website disruption, and other circumstances that may affect access to published research.

This policy establishes IJMI's approach to the preservation, archiving, maintenance, and long-term accessibility of its published scholarly content.

The policy applies to articles, publication metadata, supplementary materials, and other scholarly content formally published by IJMI, subject to applicable copyright, licensing, confidentiality, and technical requirements.

IJMI is committed to developing appropriate preservation arrangements as its publishing infrastructure and institutional capacity evolve.

2. Principles of Digital Preservation

IJMI considers digital preservation an important responsibility of scholarly publishing.

The journal seeks to maintain the integrity and accessibility of its published content through responsible website administration, publication record management, data protection practices, and the progressive development of appropriate archiving arrangements.

Digital preservation involves more than maintaining a functioning journal website. It also requires consideration of the continued availability, authenticity, readability, and recoverability of published materials.

IJMI recognizes that different preservation methods may provide different levels of protection. Routine technical backups, institutional repositories, distributed preservation networks, and dedicated digital archives serve related but distinct purposes.

The journal will seek to develop preservation arrangements appropriate to its operational resources, technical infrastructure, and publishing responsibilities.

3. Online Publication and Accessibility

IJMI publishes scholarly articles electronically through its official journal website.

Accepted and published articles are intended to remain accessible to readers in accordance with the journal's open-access and copyright licensing policies.

The journal seeks to maintain stable article webpages, accurate bibliographic information, and accessible publication files.

Published materials may include article manuscripts, abstracts, author information, references, supplementary files, and relevant publication metadata.

Where technically supported, the journal may provide articles in commonly used digital formats, including PDF and other suitable formats.

IJMI will seek to address technical issues affecting access to published content within its available operational and administrative capacity.

4. Journal Management and Digital Infrastructure

IJMI uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) as its online journal management and publishing platform.

The platform supports manuscript administration, editorial workflows, publication management, and the organization of scholarly content and associated metadata.

The journal's digital infrastructure is maintained through its designated hosting arrangements and relevant technical service providers.

IJMI recognizes the importance of appropriate system administration, software maintenance, access controls, and data management practices in supporting the continuity of its publishing activities.

Technical maintenance and system backups may contribute to operational recovery, but they do not, by themselves, constitute a complete long-term digital preservation strategy.

The journal will periodically review its infrastructure and preservation needs as its publication activities develop.

5. Backup and Recovery Arrangements

IJMI recognizes that appropriate backup and recovery arrangements are necessary to reduce the risk of losing published content, publication metadata, and relevant journal records.

The journal will seek to maintain suitable backup and recovery arrangements through its hosting infrastructure and administrative procedures.

Such arrangements may include backups of website files, publication materials, databases, and other information necessary to restore journal operations following a technical disruption.

The scope, frequency, storage location, and retention period of backups will depend on the hosting services and technical arrangements in operation.

Backup arrangements will be reviewed to determine whether they adequately support the journal's operational continuity requirements.

IJMI recognizes that recovery from a technical disruption may require coordination with its hosting provider or other authorized technical service providers.

The journal does not represent routine backups as equivalent to independent, permanent preservation of the scholarly record.

6. Long-Term Digital Archiving

IJMI intends to develop appropriate long-term archiving arrangements to strengthen the preservation and continued accessibility of its published articles.

Potential preservation arrangements may include participation in recognized digital preservation networks, institutional repositories, or other suitable scholarly archiving services.

Services such as the PKP Preservation Network, LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, or other established preservation systems may be considered where the journal satisfies the relevant technical, operational, and eligibility requirements.

References to these services indicate possible future preservation arrangements and do not imply that IJMI currently participates in or has established agreements with them.

Any confirmed preservation partnership or archiving arrangement will be communicated through the journal's official website when implemented.

IJMI will seek to prioritize preservation methods that support the authenticity, integrity, and continued accessibility of published scholarly materials.

7. Publication Metadata and Persistent Identification

Accurate publication metadata supports the discovery, identification, citation, and preservation of scholarly research.

IJMI seeks to maintain appropriate bibliographic records for its published articles, including titles, author information, abstracts, keywords, publication dates, volume and issue information, and other relevant descriptive details.

Where Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration services have been established, eligible articles may be assigned DOIs to support persistent identification and scholarly citation.

The journal recognizes that a DOI facilitates persistent identification and linking but does not, by itself, guarantee permanent preservation or uninterrupted access to the associated content.

IJMI will seek to maintain accurate publication information and update relevant metadata when corrections or other substantive changes are made.

Where appropriate, publication metadata may be shared with indexing services, scholarly databases, repositories, and identifier registration agencies in accordance with applicable arrangements.

8. Author Rights and Repository Archiving

IJMI supports the responsible sharing and preservation of published scholarly work in accordance with its open-access and copyright licensing arrangements.

Authors retain copyright in their published articles under the journal's established copyright policy.

Authors may deposit and share their published articles through institutional repositories, personal academic webpages, disciplinary repositories, and other appropriate scholarly platforms, subject to the applicable Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence and any relevant third-party material restrictions.

When depositing published articles, authors are encouraged to provide accurate bibliographic information and a link to the original publication on the IJMI website.

Repository archiving by authors may contribute to the wider accessibility and preservation of published research.

However, individual author deposits do not replace the journal's responsibility to develop appropriate preservation arrangements for its published scholarly record.

9. Preservation of Corrections and Retractions

IJMI recognizes that the integrity of the scholarly record requires transparent documentation of substantive post-publication changes.

Where a published article is corrected, retracted, or subject to an expression of concern, the journal will seek to maintain an accessible record of the relevant editorial action.

Formal notices should identify the affected publication and explain the nature of the action in accordance with the journal's Corrections, Retractions and Complaints Policy.

The original article will ordinarily remain part of the publication record, clearly identified where appropriate as corrected, retracted, or subject to an expression of concern.

Removal of published content will be considered only where compelling legal, ethical, privacy, safety, or other serious circumstances justify such action.

The journal will seek to ensure that relevant publication metadata and article records accurately reflect substantive editorial changes.

10. Continuity of Scholarly Access

IJMI recognizes that changes in technology, hosting arrangements, publishing infrastructure, or organizational circumstances may affect the availability of digital publications.

Where operationally feasible, the journal will seek to preserve published materials and associated metadata during significant technical or administrative transitions.

If the journal changes its hosting platform or website configuration, reasonable efforts will be made to maintain access to previously published content and preserve the accuracy of relevant publication records.

Where persistent identifiers have been assigned, the journal will seek to maintain or update the associated links and metadata in accordance with applicable registration arrangements.

In the event of a prolonged interruption or discontinuation of journal operations, IJMI will seek to identify appropriate arrangements for preserving or transferring its published scholarly content, subject to available resources, contractual obligations, and technical feasibility.

The journal does not guarantee uninterrupted access under all circumstances but recognizes the importance of planning for continuity and responsible preservation.

11. Responsibilities and Policy Administration

The editorial and publishing administration of IJMI is responsible for overseeing the implementation and periodic review of this policy.

Relevant responsibilities include maintaining accurate publication records, coordinating with technical service providers, evaluating preservation needs, and considering suitable long-term archiving arrangements.

IJMI may revise its preservation procedures as its publishing infrastructure, technical capabilities, financial resources, and scholarly archiving opportunities develop.

Any established external preservation arrangements may be identified publicly once their implementation has been confirmed.

This policy should be read alongside IJMI's Copyright and Licensing Policy, Privacy and Personal Data Protection Policy, Data Availability and Research Transparency Policy, and Corrections, Retractions and Complaints Policy.

IJMI remains committed to the responsible stewardship of its published scholarly record and the progressive development of sustainable digital preservation practices.