Archiving and long-term preservation policy for open access

Archiving and long-term preservation policy for open access

Publishing House of the Institute of Agriculture of the Carpathian Region of NAAS

State Registration Certificate: DK № 7457 dated 28.09.2021
ROR ID: 0062xp078
DOI Prefix: 10.32636/
Identifier in the Register of Media Entities: R30-01974

  1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.1. Purpose and Scope

The Publishing House of the Institute of Agriculture of the Carpathian Region of NAAS (hereinafter referred to as the Publishing House) adheres to the principles of open science and ensures long-term preservation of all published materials in open access in accordance with international standards for digital archiving.

This policy applies to all scientific periodicals of the Publishing House:

  1. "Foothill and Mountain Agriculture and Animal Husbandry"
    • ISSN 0130-8521 (print version)
    • e-ISSN 2786-5231 (electronic version)
    • Founded in 1967
  2. "Agroscience and Practice"
    • ISSN 2786-6939

1.2. Archiving Principles

The Publishing House is guided by the following principles:

  • Perpetual open access to all published materials without financial barriers
  • Permanent availability of scientific publications for researchers, practitioners, and the public
  • Compliance with international standards for digital archiving
  • Technological neutrality and readiness for format migration
  • Transparency of archiving processes and accountability to the scientific community

This policy is designed to guarantee permanent and unimpeded access to scientific publications regardless of changes in technology, organizational structure, or funding.

 

  1. ARCHIVING REPOSITORIES

2.1. Institutional Archiving

Institutional Repository of the Institute

  • All journal issues are stored in the electronic library of the Institute of Agriculture of the Carpathian Region of NAAS
  • Backup on the institution's own servers at least once per quarter
  • Storage of original files in PDF/A formats (for long-term archiving) and XML (metadata)
  • Separate storage of versions: final published version (Version of Record)

Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine

  • A mandatory copy of each issue is submitted to the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine
  • Indexing in the library's scientific publication search system
  • Permanent URL for each article in the library system

2.2. International Open Access Repositories

PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) – Primary International Repository

PKP PN is a free digital preservation service specifically designed for journals on the Open Journal Systems platform. The Publishing House uses PKP PN as its primary international repository for long-term preservation.

PKP PN Characteristics:

  • Automatic harvesting of new content from registered journals and addition to PKP PN without manual staff intervention
  • Decentralized LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) network with geographically distributed storage nodes
  • The network comprises 7 PKP PN nodes storing content from over 1,700 journals
  • Dark archive – content is inaccessible until a "trigger event" occurs
  • After a trigger event, PKP staff approves the import of preserved content into one or more OJS instances hosted by PKP member institutions, after which the content becomes openly accessible

Trigger Events for PKP PN:

  • Cessation of journal publication
  • Loss of access to the journal's official website for an extended period
  • PKP PN uses automated methods to detect potential trigger events and contacts the journal to confirm publication status

Technical Implementation:

  • Activation through OJS panel: Settings → Distribution → Archiving → PKP Preservation Network (PN). After activation, journal content is automatically queued for secure replication without manual intervention
  • Retrospective and new content is automatically added after accepting the terms of use

Internet Archive (Wayback Machine)

  • Periodic archiving of the Publishing House's official website and journals through Wayback Machine
  • Creation of webpage snapshots at least once per quarter
  • Preservation of site change history and all published versions
  • Access through permanent archive.org URL links
  • Ensures long-term availability of journals' web interface

2.3. Disciplinary and Thematic Repositories

AGRIS (International Information System for Agricultural Sciences and Technology FAO)

  • Registration of all articles on agricultural topics in the AGRIS database
  • Visibility for the global agricultural community
  • Metadata in English for international accessibility
  • Participation in the global knowledge exchange system in agriculture

Scientific Periodicals of Ukraine (Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine)

  • Participation in the national project for digital preservation of scientific periodicals
  • Retrospective digitization of historical issues
  • Integration with the national scientific information system

2.4. Additional Long-Term Preservation Options

LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe)

The Publishing House has the technical capability to connect to the Global LOCKSS Network for an additional level of preservation. Publisher participation in the Global LOCKSS Network is free, but inclusion decisions are made based on library community needs, content preservation status, archivability, and other factors.

LOCKSS Connection Process:

  • Activation through OJS: Settings → Distribution → Archiving → Enable LOCKSS
  • Creation of Publisher Manifest for content identification
  • Coordination with libraries using LOCKSS nodes
  • Decentralized storage in participating library systems

CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS) – Prospective Repository

CLOCKSS is an international dark archive that preserves open access materials and subscription publications. The Publishing House is considering joining CLOCKSS to provide an additional level of international preservation.

CLOCKSS Features:

  • Community-governed: the board consists of 12 leading academic libraries and 12 leading academic publishers
  • Geographically distributed network with 12 archive nodes in leading research libraries worldwide
  • Dark archive with automatic access opening after a trigger event
  • Content becomes freely available to all after a trigger event and is published under a Creative Commons license

Connection Status:

The Publishing House plans to begin the process of joining CLOCKSS after fulfilling the following conditions:

  1. Inclusion of both journals in DOAJ (if not already included)
  2. Assessment of financial capabilities for participation fees
  3. Technical preparation of the platform for CLOCKSS integration
  4. Signing of a participation agreement

Until connection to CLOCKSS, all long-term preservation functions are provided through PKP PN, the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, and other repositories listed above.

Note on Repositories:

The Publishing House continuously monitors new opportunities for additional content preservation and may expand the list of repositories in the future. Current information about all active repositories is always available on the Publishing House's official website (https://journals.isgkr.science/).

  1. TECHNICAL MEANS AND STANDARDS

3.1. File Formats for Archiving

For Publications:

  • PDF/A-1b or PDF/A-2b – primary format for long-term article archiving (ISO 19005 standard)
    • Embedded fonts
    • Prohibition of dynamic content
    • Complete document self-sufficiency
  • XML (JATS – Journal Article Tag Suite) – structured article data to ensure compatibility and future migration
  • HTML5 – article versions for convenient browser viewing
  • EPUB3 – for mobile devices (as needed)

For Metadata:

  • Dublin Core – basic international standard for resource description
  • JATS XML – for complete structured article description
  • DataCite/CrossRef XML – for DOI registration and management
  • JSON-LD (Schema.org) – for semantic webpage markup

For Supplementary Materials:

  • Tables: CSV, XLSX (with PDF/A copy)
  • Images: TIFF, PNG (lossless), JPEG2000
  • Research data: open formats (CSV, JSON, XML)

3.2. Publishing Platform

Open Journal Systems (OJS)

  • Use of OJS version 3.3 or newer with regular security updates
  • Built-in functions for automatic export to PKP PN repositories
  • Support for OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) protocol for metadata harvesting
  • Integration with CrossRef, ORCID, ROR systems

Persistent Identifiers:

  • DOI (Digital Object Identifier) – for each article (Publishing House prefix: 10.32636/)
  • ISSN – for print and electronic versions of journals
  • ORCID – author identification (mandatory for corresponding authors)
  • ROR ID (0062xp078) – publisher institution identification
  • Persistent URLs – permanent links at the Publishing House level

3.3. Backup System

Local Backup (on-site backup):

  • Daily incremental backup of database and publication files
  • Quarterly full backup of the entire system
  • Storage of backup copies on separate physical servers ("3-2-1" rule: minimum 3 copies on 2 different media, 1 of which is remote)
  • Quarterly data recovery testing

Remote Backup (off-site backup):

  • Monthly archiving on a remote server outside the main location
  • Use of cloud services for additional geographically remote storage
  • Encryption of all backup copies with AES-256 standard
  • Storage of copies in at least two different geographical locations

Backup Retention Policy:

  • Daily copies: 30 days
  • Quarterly copies: 2 years
  • Annual archival copies: indefinitely

3.4. Data Integrity and Quality Verification

Checksums:

  • Automatic creation of checksums (MD5 and SHA-256) for each file upon upload
  • Storage of checksums in the database and in separate files
  • Ability to verify file integrity at any time

Periodic Verification:

  • Quarterly automatic verification of integrity of all files in the archive
  • Automatic detection of damaged or modified files
  • Immediate recovery from backup copies in case of detected problems
  • Logging of all verification and recovery operations

Format Validation:

  • Verification of PDF files' compliance with PDF/A standard
  • Validation of XML files according to JATS schemas
  • Testing of file opening and display
  1. ACCESSIBILITY GUARANTEES

4.1. Commitment to Permanent Access

Publishing House Commitments:

  • The Institute of Agriculture of the Carpathian Region of NAAS commits to maintaining perpetual free open access to all published materials
  • Funding for journal support is provided from the Institute's special fund to disseminate research results without financial barriers
  • In case of cessation of publication of any journal, all materials will remain accessible through:
    • PKP PN (automatic access activation)
    • CLOCKSS (archive opening trigger)
  • Minimum guaranteed preservation period: 10 years from the publication date of each issue with automatic extension

Permanent Links:

  • Each article has a unique permanent URL on the Publishing House platform (journals.isgkr.science)
  • DOI ensures a permanent link regardless of possible domain or site structure changes
  • Automatic redirection system from old URLs to new ones in case of technical changes or reorganization
  • Maintenance of URL links in all external indexing systems

4.2. Format Migration and Technology Updates

Technological Migration Strategy:

  • Continuous monitoring of file format relevance (PDF/A, XML, HTML)
  • Tracking recommendations of international organizations (ISO, W3C, NISO)
  • Planned archive conversion when new recommended standards appear
  • Preservation of original files alongside migrated versions for historical authenticity

File Migration Plan:

  • Annual review of technological standards
  • Testing of new formats on a limited sample
  • Phased migration of the entire archive over 12-18 months
  • Documentation of all format changes

4.3. Organizational Resilience

Institutional Support:

  • Publications are funded by the Institute of Agriculture of the Carpathian Region of NAAS from the special budget fund
  • Journals are approved by the Institute's Academic Council as priority publications
  • Support from the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine

Emergency Action Plan:

Scenario 1: Temporary Site Unavailability

  • Activation of backup servers within 24 hours
  • User notification through social media and email
  • Access through mirror sites and repositories

Scenario 2: Publishing House Closure

  • Automatic access activation through CLOCKSS
  • Transfer of management to the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine
  • Coordination with NAAS regarding transfer of publications to another network institution

Scenario 3: Data Loss

  • Recovery from backup copies (local or remote)
  • If necessary – recovery from PKP PN or CLOCKSS repositories
  • Audit of loss causes and system protection improvement

Succession:

  • In case of Institute reorganization, all rights and obligations of the Publishing House transfer to the successor
  • Documentary consolidation of open access support obligations
  • Preservation of all persistent identifiers (DOI, ISSN)

4.4. User Rights and Licensing

Open Access License:

  • All materials in the Publishing House's journals are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license
  • Users have unrestricted rights to:
    • Read and download materials
    • Copy and distribute in any format
    • Print for personal and educational use
    • Use for educational purposes and scientific research
    • Adapt and translate (with mandatory citation)
  • Mandatory condition: proper citation of the original publication indicating authors, article title, journal, year, volume, issue, and DOI

Copyright:

  • Authors retain copyright to their works
  • The Publishing House receives a non-exclusive license to publish
  • Authors may place their articles in institutional and disciplinary repositories
  • Self-archiving (green open access) is encouraged

Accessibility for People with Disabilities:

  • PDF files have tagged structure for screen readers (tagged PDF)
  • HTML versions of articles comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards
  • Alternative text descriptions (alt text) for all images, graphs, and tables
  • Text scaling capability without loss of functionality
  • Keyboard navigation support
  1. MONITORING, AUDIT, AND REPORTING

5.1. Regular System Monitoring

Technical Monitoring:

  • Weekly verification of all links on journal websites
  • Monthly verification of archive accessibility in external repositories
  • Quarterly verification of file and backup integrity
  • Automatic site availability monitoring systems (uptime monitoring) with failure alerts
  • Archive size monitoring and storage needs forecasting

Usage Monitoring:

  • Quarterly analysis of publication download and view statistics
  • Tracking altmetrics (mentions in social media, news, blogs)
  • Analysis of user geography and traffic sources
  • Citation monitoring through CrossRef Event Data, Google Scholar

Standards Compliance Verification:

  • Annual audit of archiving policy compliance
  • Verification of metadata completeness in all repositories
  • Validation of file formats and their standards compliance
  • Assessment of preservation quality in external systems (PKP PN, CLOCKSS)

5.2. Public Reporting

Annual Archiving Report:

  • Publication of report on the Publishing House website by March 31 of the following year
  • Information on:
    • Number of published and archived materials
    • Preservation status in all repositories
    • Access and usage statistics
    • Implementation of migration and update plans
    • Financial reporting on archiving support

Information Updates:

  • Quarterly update of "Archiving" section on journal websites
  • User notification of policy changes 30 days before implementation
  • Publication of announcements about technical work and possible access interruptions
  • Transparent communication about any problems or incidents

Engagement with Scientific Community:

  • Collection of user feedback on archive accessibility and usability
  • Surveys among authors and readers
  • Participation in professional associations of open access publishers

5.3. Audit and Policy Review

Periodic Audit:

  • Annual internal audit of archiving system (responsible: Institute's technical department)
  • External audit every 3 years (with participation of NAAS experts or independent specialists)
  • Compliance verification:
    • International standards (LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, PKP PN)
    • Requirements of national and international indexes
    • Recommendations of open access organizations (DOAJ, OASPA)

Archiving Policy Review:

  • Scheduled reviews: at least once every 3 years
  • Unscheduled reviews: with significant changes:
    • In international archiving standards
    • In technological infrastructure
    • In organizational structure of the Publishing House or Institute
    • In legislation regarding scientific publications
  • Involvement of journal editorial boards in the review process
  • Public discussion of significant policy changes

Continuous Improvement:

  • Implementation of new technologies and best practices
  • Participation in international initiatives for scientific publication preservation
  • Staff training in modern digital archiving methods
  • Experience exchange with other NAAS publishing houses and international partners
  1. RESPONSIBILITY AND GOVERNANCE

6.1. Distribution of Responsibilities

Institute Directorate:

  • Overall strategic management of archiving policy
  • Ensuring funding for the storage system
  • Appointment of responsible persons

Publishing House Director:

  • Implementation of archiving policy
  • Coordination of work with repositories
  • Reporting to directorate and scientific community

Journal Editorial Boards:

  • Quality control of materials submitted for archiving
  • Ensuring metadata completeness
  • Participation in policy review

Technical Staff:

  • Technical infrastructure support
  • Backup and monitoring
  • Interaction with repositories and technical services

6.2. Funding

Funding Sources:

  • Special fund of the Institute of Agriculture of the Carpathian Region of NAAS
  • Basic infrastructure support funding
  • Possible additional funding from NAAS grants for scientific infrastructure development

Main Expense Items:

  • Server and storage system maintenance
  • Payment for external repository services (as needed)
  • DOI registration (CrossRef services)
  • Software development and updates
  • Staff training

 

  1. CONTACT INFORMATION

For inquiries regarding archiving and access to journal materials:

Publishing House of the Institute of Agriculture of the Carpathian Region of NAAS

Address: 5 Hrushevskoho St., Obroshyne village, Pustomyty district, Lviv region, 81115, Ukraine
Website: https://journals.isgkr.science/

For the journal "Foothill and Mountain Agriculture and Animal Husbandry":
https://journals.isgkr.science/index.php/phzt/

For the journal "Agroscience and Practice":
https://journals.isgkr.science/index.php/asp/

  1. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

International Standards and Initiatives:

National Resources:

This policy ensures maximum preservation and perpetual accessibility of the Publishing House's journals' scientific publications for current and future generations of researchers, supporting the principles of open science and promoting the development of agricultural science in Ukraine and worldwide.