Open Access Policy

The International Journal of Business Operations and Management Studies is a fully open-access journal, meaning all articles are available on the internet to all users immediately upon publication. The journal operates under a Diamond Open Access model, ensuring that financial constraints do not limit the dissemination or accessibility of high-impact research.

1. Principles of Diamond Open Access

The journal is built upon the fundamental principle that scholarly research should be a public good. Providing barrier-free access to knowledge accelerates innovation, encourages international collaboration, and enhances the visibility of empirical discoveries in business operations, supply chain logistics, and decision sciences.

Zero Cost to Authors and Readers

Unlike traditional open-access models that shift the financial burden to researchers, the journal does not charge any fees at any stage of the editorial process.

  • No Submission or Review Fees: There are no charges for manuscript submission, administrative screening, or peer-review management.

  • No Article Processing Charges (APCs): Authors are not required to pay any publishing or page fees upon the formal acceptance of their work.

  • Free for Readers: The global research community, including students, policymakers, and practitioners, can read, download, print, copy, and distribute the full text of all published papers without purchasing a subscription or bypassing paywalls.

All production costs—including system maintenance, technical copyediting, structural XML typesetting, digital preservation archiving, and persistent metadata registration—are fully subsidized through institutional sponsorships and academic grants.

2. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licensing

To preserve the rights of authors while maximizing the global reach of published scholarship, the journal utilizes the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Under this licensing framework, authors retain the full copyright to their work, granting the journal a non-exclusive right to publish and distribute the Version of Record.

                    [Author Retains Core Copyright]
                                   │
                                   ▼
          [Grants Journal Exclusive First License to Publish]
                                   │
                                   ▼
        [Article Published Under Global CC BY 4.0 Framework]
                                   │
         ┌─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┐
         ▼                                                   ▼
 [Permitted Uses for Public]                         [Core Legal Condition]
 • Share, copy, and redistribute material            • Must give appropriate credit
 • Adapt, remix, and build upon text                 • Must link to original license
 • Commercial and non-commercial application         • Must indicate changes if made

The CC BY 4.0 license ensures that research is highly discoverable and legally flexible, permitting text and data mining, repository aggregation, and educational repurposing, provided that proper bibliographic credit is attributed to the original authors and the journal.

3. Machine-Readable Metadata and Interoperability

To ensure maximum visibility and indexing compatibility with global databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the journal prioritizes advanced digital interoperability:

  • OAI-PMH Harvesting: The journal platform utilizes the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), allowing external indexing engines to seamlessly crawl and ingest published article metadata.

  • Full-Text XML Deliverables: Articles are published simultaneously in human-readable PDF layouts and machine-readable JATS XML formats, optimizing semantic search indexation and screen-reader accessibility.

4. Retrospective and Permanent Open Access Commitment

The journal’s commitment to open access is permanent and unalterable. Articles published in past volumes will never be commercialized, placed behind a paywall, or subjected to access restrictions.

In the event that the journal undergoes a platform transition or changes its institutional sponsorship, all published archives will remain open-access in perpetuity through our partnerships with independent preservation networks, including Portico, CLOCKSS, and LOCKSS.