Open Access Policy

The journal is an open access journal committed to the free and immediate availability of all published content. The journal provides unrestricted access to its articles to support the global exchange of knowledge in the fields of criminal law and criminal justice.
 
The journal adheres to the principles of open access publishing as defined by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and aligns with international best practices for scholarly communication.

1. Access and Use

All articles published in the journal are:

  • Freely accessible online immediately upon publication;
  • Available without subscription or payment barriers;
  • Accessible to readers worldwide without restriction.

Users are permitted to:

  • Read, download, copy, distribute, print, and link to full-text articles;
  • Use published content for any purposes;
  • Share content provided proper citation and acknowledgment of the original work are given.

2. Licensing Terms

All published articles are distributed under an open license (Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), as determined by the journal policy).

Under this license:

  • Authors retain copyright of their work;
  • The journal is granted the right of first publication;
  • Users may reuse, distribute, and adapt the work, provided proper attribution is given to the original author(s) and source.

3. Author Rights

Authors publishing in the journal retain the following rights:

  • Copyright ownership of their work;
  • The right to reuse their published material in future works, such as books, teaching materials, or institutional repositories;
  • The right to archive preprints and postprints in personal or institutional repositories, with appropriate citation to the original publication.

4. Archiving and Repository Policy

To ensure long-term preservation and accessibility, the journal encourages and supports:

  • Self-archiving in institutional repositories;
  • Archiving in subject-based repositories (where applicable);
  • Inclusion in indexing and preservation services.

Published content remains permanently accessible through the journal platform and designated archiving systems.

5. No Subscription or Article Processing Charges 

The journal may operate under one of the following models:

  • No Article Processing Charges (APC) for authors

The journal does not charge readers or institutions for access to published content.

6. Commitment to Open Knowledge

Through its open access policy, the journal aims to:

  • Promote wider dissemination of legal and criminological scholarship;
  • Support equitable access to academic knowledge;
  • Encourage global collaboration in research on criminal law and criminal justice;
  • Contribute to innovation in legal scholarship and policy development.

7. Ethical Alignment

This open access policy is implemented in accordance with the principles of:

  • Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • International standards of transparency, accessibility, and responsible publishing practices.

8. Policy Updates

The journal reserves the right to update or revise this Open Access Policy to reflect changes in publishing standards, legal requirements, or best practices in scholarly communication. Any updates will be communicated transparently through the journal’s official website.