Open Access and Copyright Policy

• Copyright is a type of legal protection that grants exclusive rights to the creators of original works, giving them control over and safeguarding their creations from unauthorized use or exploitation by others.
• Copyright encompasses both moral rights and exploitation rights. Moral rights ensure that the author receives proper acknowledgment for their work, even if the copyright is transferred to a publisher. Exploitation rights, on the other hand, relate to the rights associated with the commercial usage and distribution of the work.
• Under copyright law, creators are automatically granted exclusive rights over their work from the moment it is created. These rights include the right to reproduce, distribute, display, or create derivative works based on the original creation. In essence, others must obtain permission from the copyright owner to use or exploit the work. The copyright holders have the authority to determine how their work can be used by others.
• Copyright protection typically has a fixed duration, which varies depending on the type of work and the country where the copyright is claimed. Generally, copyright protection lasts for the “author’s lifetime plus 50 to 80 years.” After this period, the work enters the public domain and can be freely used by anyone without requiring permission.

• Open Access (OA) represents an approach in scholarly publishing that is consistent with copyright laws.
• It empowers authors by preserving their copyright ownership while simultaneously granting extensive permissions for the utilization of their work.
• By adopting open access model, scholarly works become effortlessly accessible by everyone. It democratizes knowledge and eradicates barriers hindering knowledge dissemination.
• Resultantly, academic works become more discoverable, and attract increased attention. This in turn – facilitates researchers to build upon and expand their existing findings.
• The principles of open access, viz. openness, transparency, and accessibility, foster the culture of sharing and collaboration.
• The ability to access and reuse scholarly works also encourages innovation, as it allows others to build upon existing research, generating new insights, and pushing boundaries of knowledge.
• The unrestricted flow of information also fuels collaboration and allows experts from diverse fields and geographical locations to come together and collaborate. It thus serves as a catalyst for fostering dynamic and inclusive research environment.
• Additionally, open access enhances the visibility and impact of research by making it more discoverable and attracting increased attention. This heightened exposure leads to greater citations, increased acknowledging of contribution, alongside promotion of academic recognition and prestige.
• Any scholarly work with an orange open padlock icon symbol sandwiched by the words ‘open’ and ‘access’ represents that it is open for access by all.

• Authors whose manuscripts are published by Social Science Chronicle, retain unrestricted copyright of their published manuscript.
• However, they are made available to public at large, under a Creative Commons License.
  • What is Creative Commons ? – Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that helps to overcome legal obstacles in sharing of knowledge and creativity. Established in 2001 and inspired by the open-source software movement, Creative Commons offers a new approach to copyright by changing the slogan from “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.” It offers licenses and tools that allow creators to maintain their copyright while granting authorization for certain uses of their work, going beyond the scope of traditional copyright law.
• Social Science Chronicle publishes and makes manuscript publicly available under the terms of CC BY-NC-SA [Attribution – Non Commercial – Share Alike] 4.0 International Licence of Creative Commons.

Under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International License :

• Share : Anybody is free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
• Attribution : The author retains the right to be attributed as the original creator of the work. Any use or distribution of the work must properly credit the author.
• Non Commercial : Anybody (other than the author) is not allowed to use the work for commercial purposes without obtaining permission from the author.
• Share Alike : Anybody is free to modify, adapt, transform or build upon the original work, however the distribution of contribution/s must be under the same license as that of the original work.

By combining these elements, the author can protect their scholarly work while still allowing others to share and distribute their work.

For details about the adopted licence pattern – [Click Here]

The rights and obligations of author/s and journal under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license are as follows :.

• Authors who publish with Social Science Chronicle retain full and unrestricted copyright of their manuscript, including the freedom to share their work on institutional repositories, as well as on their personal website/s.
• Once a manuscript is published, author/s have the right to utilize their scholarly work in any manner as they deem fit, including reproducing it in formats such as online publication, books, popular articles, or similar platforms.
• By choosing to publish in Social Science Chronicle, the author grants the journal an indefinite license to publish the manuscript under provisions of CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Creative Commons License, and to include it in the journal’s archiving mechanism.
• The author/s also agree to allow Social Science Chronicle to use the published manuscript for promotion of the journal as well as scholarly endeavour of the author/s.