Open Access Archiving and Long-term Preservation Policy

The editorial board of the journal «Environment & Health» (hereinafter referred to as the Journal) is committed to ensuring the long-term preservation, open access, and continuous availability of all scientific materials published in the Journal, in accordance with international standards for digital archiving and open access.

This policy establishes rules for the archiving of publications, identifies repositories for the preservation of materials, and outlines the technical means for ensuring the preservation and accessibility of the Journal’s content.

1. Purpose and Principles of Archiving

The purpose of this policy is to:

  • Ensure the long-term digital preservation of the Journal’s publications.
  • To guarantee open access to materials after their publication without time or technical restrictions.
  • To ensure compatibility with international digital preservation standards (PDF/A, metadata, DOI, etc.).

2. Repositories and Storage Locations

2.1. The Journal’s Official Website
The Journal publishes all issues in electronic form on its official website with open access without time restrictions.

2.2. Electronic copies of all issues are transferred for storage to the “Scientific Periodicals of Ukraine” platform of the V.I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

2.3. International Digital Repositories
The journal may use international digital archiving and preservation services to provide an additional guarantee of content accessibility and preservation.

3. Technical Means and Storage Formats

3.1. File Formats
For long-term preservation, materials are stored in standardized formats:

    • PDF/A – for journal articles and issues;
    • HTML/XML/JATS – for metadata and structured content representation;
    • Other formats (images, data), if applicable – in open standards.

3.2. Backup Systems
The journal’s servers support regular data backups (onsite and offsite) to prevent data loss.

3.3. Integrity Control
Data integrity control and server mirroring technologies are used to verify the preservation and restoration of files as needed.

3.4. Persistent Identifiers (DOI)
Each article is assigned a unique DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for stable access, citation, and searchability in academic systems.

4. Access Guarantees

4.1. Open Access
All materials are available free of charge and without technical restrictions (no subscription, registration, or authorization required).

4.2. Continuous Access
The journal guarantees continuous access to the archive even in the event of a platform change or cessation of operations:

    • Archives remain accessible through repositories;
    • Metadata and full texts are stored in repositories and open access services;
    • Indexing in Google Scholar and international databases is supported.

4.3. Compliance with Standards
The archiving policy complies with international standards and recommendations.

5. Self-archiving by authors

Authors may independently deposit their works (preprints or final versions) in any open repositories, provided they include complete publication information (journal title, DOI, year, authors).

6. Policy Review

The editorial board reviews this policy at least once every two years to ensure it remains in line with new digital archiving practices and open access requirements.