Digital Archiving and Preservation Policy

Open Veterinary Journal (OVJ) recognizes that long-term preservation of published scholarly content is an essential component of responsible scholarly publishing. The journal is committed to protecting the integrity, authenticity, and long-term accessibility of its published scientific record.

OVJ maintains digital preservation and backup procedures and participates in PORTICO, a trusted third-party digital preservation service, to provide long-term preservation of the journal's scholarly content.

1. Scope of Digital Preservation

OVJ's preservation arrangements apply to the journal's published scholarly record, including, as applicable:

• published articles;

• article metadata;

• bibliographic information;

• article files;

• supplementary materials associated with published articles; and

• other essential content forming part of the published scholarly record.

The objective is to ensure that published content remains identifiable, accessible, and preservable independently of the continued availability of the journal's primary website.

2. PORTICO Digital Preservation

OVJ participates in PORTICO for the long-term preservation of its published scholarly content.

PORTICO provides an independent preservation environment designed to safeguard electronic scholarly publications and maintain access to preserved content under applicable preservation and access conditions.

Participation in PORTICO provides an important layer of protection against the potential loss of journal content resulting from circumstances such as:

• failure or prolonged unavailability of the journal's website;

• technical infrastructure failure;

• publisher or hosting disruption;

• cessation of journal publication; or

• other circumstances that could threaten continued access to the scholarly record.

OVJ is committed to maintaining its participation in PORTICO and to depositing eligible journal content in accordance with the applicable preservation arrangements.

3. Publisher and Website Infrastructure

OVJ maintains its primary online publication platform through professionally managed digital infrastructure.

The journal applies appropriate technical and administrative measures intended to protect published content against accidental loss, unauthorized modification, corruption, and service disruption.

Where technically available, the journal maintains backup copies of its digital content and publication databases to facilitate restoration in the event of technical failure or data loss.

Digital preservation through external preservation services such as PORTICO complements, but does not replace, the journal's own backup and operational procedures.

4. Preservation of the Scholarly Record

OVJ is committed to preserving the published scholarly record without compromising its authenticity.

Published articles should remain identifiable through their bibliographic metadata and persistent identifiers. Post-publication changes, including corrections and retractions, are documented in accordance with the journal's Correction, Retraction, and Post-Publication Policy.

When an article is corrected or retracted, the editorial history and status of the article should remain appropriately documented so that readers and indexing services can distinguish the current status of the publication.

Retracted articles are not normally deleted solely because they have been retracted. The retraction status is clearly identified while the original scholarly record is retained, subject to applicable legal requirements.

5. Digital Object Identifiers

Each published OVJ article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) through Crossref.

DOIs provide persistent identifiers for scholarly content and facilitate:

• reliable citation;

• persistent linking;

• metadata exchange;

• article discovery; and

• interoperability with scholarly communication and indexing systems.

OVJ maintains article DOI information and associated bibliographic metadata as part of its publication and preservation practices.

6. Metadata and Interoperability

OVJ maintains structured bibliographic and article metadata to support discoverability, indexing, interoperability, and long-term management of the scholarly record.

Where applicable, metadata are exchanged with Crossref, indexing services, repositories, and other scholarly information systems.

The journal aims to maintain consistency between:

• article metadata;

• DOI records;

• article landing pages;

• PDF and HTML versions;

• XML/JATS content where applicable; and

• information supplied to indexing and preservation services.

Changes to article status, including corrections and retractions, should be reflected in relevant metadata where technically and operationally feasible.

7. Article Formats and Structured Content

OVJ maintains digital versions of published articles in appropriate scholarly formats.

Where applicable, article content is prepared in structured XML/JATS format to support machine readability, interoperability, indexing, accessibility, and long-term scholarly communication.

The journal seeks to maintain consistency of bibliographic information, figures, tables, references, supplementary files, and article status across the available publication formats.

8. Open Access and Continued Accessibility

OVJ is a fully open-access journal. Published articles are made freely accessible online without subscription or registration barriers, subject to the terms of the applicable license.

OVJ publishes its content under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Open licensing facilitates lawful sharing, preservation, and reuse of published scholarly content in accordance with the license terms.

The journal's preservation strategy is intended to complement its open-access model by supporting continued availability of the scholarly record over the long term.

9. Author Rights and Repository Archiving

Authors retain the rights provided to them under the journal's publishing agreement and applicable copyright arrangements.

Authors may deposit or share their published work in institutional or subject repositories and other appropriate scholarly platforms where permitted by the applicable publishing agreement and license.

Any deposited version should retain appropriate bibliographic information, including the article title, authors, journal title, DOI, and a link or reference to the published version where appropriate.

10. Persistent Scholarly Identification

OVJ encourages the use of persistent identifiers to improve the accuracy and continuity of scholarly attribution and linking.

The journal strongly encourages authors and contributors to use ORCID iDs where available.

ORCID identifiers help distinguish researchers with similar names and facilitate accurate attribution across publishing, indexing, and research-information systems.

11. Preservation of Supplementary and Associated Content

Where supplementary files form an integral part of a published article, OVJ seeks to preserve and maintain their association with the corresponding article.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that supplementary files submitted for publication are accurate, complete, and suitable for long-term access.

Where preservation or technical limitations affect the availability of a particular supplementary file, OVJ will take reasonable steps to maintain the integrity and accessibility of the published record.

12. Access in the Event of Journal or Website Disruption

OVJ's participation in PORTICO provides an independent preservation mechanism in addition to the journal's primary website and operational backups.

In circumstances where the journal's website or publishing platform becomes unavailable, preserved content may become accessible through applicable PORTICO preservation arrangements and access conditions.

The preservation arrangement is intended to reduce the risk that temporary or permanent disruption of the journal's primary publishing infrastructure will result in the loss of the scholarly record.

13. Digital Preservation and File Integrity

OVJ seeks to maintain the integrity of published digital files throughout their lifecycle.

The journal periodically reviews, where practicable:

• file accessibility;

• metadata integrity;

• DOI and persistent-link functionality;

• article-format consistency;

• preservation status;

• website and platform stability; and

• the continued availability of published content.

Where technical problems affecting published content are identified, OVJ will take appropriate corrective action.

14. Relationship Between Archiving and Post-Publication Changes

Digital preservation does not prevent OVJ from correcting or retracting published articles when necessary.

Corrections, retractions, Expressions of Concern, and other post-publication notices are treated as part of the continuing scholarly record.

OVJ seeks to ensure that such actions are appropriately linked to the affected article and that the article's publication history remains transparent.

15. Third-Party Preservation and Additional Archiving

OVJ considers participation in recognized third-party preservation services an important component of its digital preservation strategy.

In addition to PORTICO, the journal may participate in or support other appropriate preservation, repository, or archiving initiatives when such arrangements are suitable and available.

Any additional preservation service adopted by OVJ will be evaluated according to its reliability, sustainability, technical standards, and suitability for scholarly publishing.

16. Policy Review

OVJ periodically reviews its digital archiving and preservation arrangements to ensure that they remain appropriate as publishing technologies, preservation standards, indexing requirements, and scholarly communication practices evolve.

The journal may update its preservation arrangements when necessary to strengthen the long-term protection and accessibility of its scholarly record.

17. Commitment to Long-Term Preservation

OVJ recognizes that the preservation of scholarly literature is a shared responsibility involving the journal, publisher, preservation organizations, repositories, infrastructure providers, and the wider scholarly community.

Through its own digital management and backup procedures, persistent DOI identification through Crossref, structured scholarly content, open-access publishing, and participation in PORTICO, OVJ is committed to maintaining the long-term integrity, discoverability, and accessibility of its published veterinary research.

The preservation of the scholarly record remains an ongoing priority of Open Veterinary Journal.