Copyright and Licensing

Copyright

Authors retain copyright in their articles unless a different arrangement is agreed in writing. By submitting to the journal, authors grant the publisher the right to publish, distribute, preserve, and identify the article as the version of record.

Default Licence

CC BY-NC 4.0 by default for launch materials, with CC BY available when required by funders. The exact licence must be displayed on every article landing page and PDF. Licence text should not be hidden in a general policy page only.

Third-Party Material

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for figures, tables, images, survey instruments, maps, screenshots, standards excerpts, media, or substantial text reused from third-party sources when the intended licence does not cover that reuse. Captions should identify any material that is not under the article's default licence.

Data, Code, and Artifact Licences

Supporting materials may need licences different from the article licence. Authors should state the licence or access condition for questionnaires, interview protocols, statistical scripts, codebooks, and methodological appendices. Restricted access should be justified by privacy, safety, contractual, cultural, legal, or commercial reasons.

Metadata

Article metadata may be distributed to discovery services, DOI registration agencies, libraries, preservation services, and indexing databases when applicable. Metadata distribution does not imply database indexing unless indexing has been confirmed by the database.

Permissions Questions

Permissions questions should be directed to the editorial office before publication where possible. After publication, requests should identify the article title, DOI or URL if available, material requested, intended reuse, and format.