The International Journal of Psychology and Strategic Communication (IJPSC) is committed to transparent copyright and licensing practices that protect authors’ rights while ensuring the unrestricted dissemination and lawful reuse of published peer-reviewed scholarly articles.

This Copyright & Licensing Policy applies to all peer-reviewed scholarly articles published by IJPSC and must be read in conjunction with the journal’s Open Access Policy.

1. Copyright Ownership

Authors retain copyright and full publishing rights in their published articles without restriction.

Copyright is not transferred, assigned, or exclusively licensed to IJPSC.

IJPSC does not require authors to transfer copyright, exclusive publishing rights, exclusive commercial rights, or any other exclusive rights as a condition of submission, peer review, acceptance, or publication.

The author or authors remain the copyright holders of the published article unless copyright is legally held by another party, such as an employer or institution. Any such alternative copyright ownership must be clearly identified in the published article.

2. Rights Granted to IJPSC

Authors grant IJPSC a non-exclusive right of first publication.

Authors also grant IJPSC the non-exclusive rights necessary to publish, reproduce, distribute, display, preserve, identify, index, register, archive, and make the published article available as the journal’s version of record.

These rights are non-exclusive and do not prevent authors from exercising their own copyright and publishing rights.

IJPSC may identify itself as the original publisher of the article and may maintain and distribute the version of record in accordance with the applicable Creative Commons license.

3. Creative Commons License

All peer-reviewed scholarly articles published by IJPSC are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

The full license terms are available at:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Under CC BY 4.0, users may copy, share, redistribute, reproduce, display, adapt, transform, translate, and build upon published material for any lawful purpose, including commercial purposes, provided that:

• appropriate credit is given to the author or authors;
• the original IJPSC publication is appropriately identified;
• a link to the CC BY 4.0 license is provided; and
• any changes made to the original material are indicated.

IJPSC does not impose additional contractual or copyright restrictions that limit, modify, or contradict the rights granted under CC BY 4.0.

4. No Transfer of Exclusive Rights

Publication in IJPSC does not transfer exclusive rights from the authors to the journal, publisher, foundation, editor, or any other party.

In particular, authors do not transfer:

• copyright ownership;
• exclusive publishing rights;
• exclusive reproduction rights;
• exclusive distribution rights;
• exclusive commercial rights; or
• exclusive rights to create derivative works.

The rights granted to IJPSC remain non-exclusive and exist solely to enable lawful publication, dissemination, identification, preservation, and maintenance of the scholarly record.

5. Authors’ Publishing Rights

Authors retain full publishing rights and may exercise those rights without requesting additional permission from IJPSC, subject to the terms of CC BY 4.0 and appropriate acknowledgement of the original publication.

Authors may:

• share and distribute the published article;
• deposit the version of record in institutional or disciplinary repositories;
• publish the article on personal or institutional websites;
• share the article through academic and professional networks;
• use the article for teaching and educational purposes;
• translate the article;
• reuse figures, tables, text, and other original material from the article;
• incorporate the article or parts of it into future scholarly works;
• use the article in books, theses, dissertations, reports, presentations, or other publications; and
• authorise third parties to reuse the work in accordance with the applicable license.

Authors are not required to obtain permission from IJPSC for uses already permitted by their copyright ownership or by the CC BY 4.0 license.

6. Self-Archiving Rights

Authors may immediately archive and distribute the published version of record without an embargo period.

The published version may be deposited in institutional repositories, disciplinary repositories, research information systems, academic networks, personal websites, and institutional websites.

No additional permission from IJPSC is required for self-archiving or repository deposit.

7. Attribution and Citation

Reuse of published material under CC BY 4.0 requires appropriate attribution.

Attribution should identify, where available:

• the author or authors;
• the title of the article;
• the International Journal of Psychology and Strategic Communication (IJPSC);
• the year of publication;
• the Digital Object Identifier (DOI); and
• the applicable CC BY 4.0 license.

Reuse must not imply endorsement by the author, authors, IJPSC, its editors, or its supporting institutions unless such endorsement has been explicitly given.

8. Third-Party Material

The CC BY 4.0 license applies to the peer-reviewed scholarly article except where individual material is clearly identified as being subject to different copyright or licensing terms.

Third-party material, including figures, photographs, tables, illustrations, maps, datasets, excerpts, or other material not owned by the article’s authors, must be used lawfully and clearly identified where it is not covered by the article’s CC BY 4.0 license.

Where required, the article must identify the relevant copyright holder, license, permission, statutory exception, or other lawful basis for use.

Users wishing to reuse third-party material that is excluded from the article’s CC BY 4.0 license are responsible for obtaining any additional permission required from the relevant rights holder.

9. Author Responsibility for Rights and Permissions

Authors are responsible for ensuring that material included in their manuscript may lawfully be published and distributed by IJPSC.

Before publication, authors must obtain any permissions required for copyrighted third-party material that is not covered by an applicable statutory exception, open license, or other lawful basis.

Authors must accurately identify material that is excluded from the article’s CC BY 4.0 license.

10. Copyright Notice in Published Articles

Published peer-reviewed scholarly articles should display a copyright and licensing statement that identifies the author or authors as copyright holders and specifies the applicable CC BY 4.0 license.

The standard IJPSC copyright and licensing statement is:

Where copyright is legally held by an institution, employer, or another rights holder, the copyright notice must identify the correct copyright holder.

11. Licensing Information in Article Versions

IJPSC displays the applicable open-access license on the article page and should include the copyright holder and licensing information in the full-text article, including the PDF version.

The licensing statement identifies the article as published under CC BY 4.0 and links to the official Creative Commons license terms.

Copyright and licensing information forms part of the publication record and remains associated with the article.

12. Version of Record

The final article published on the IJPSC website constitutes the journal’s version of record.

The version of record may be freely shared, archived, distributed, and reused in accordance with CC BY 4.0.

Substantive changes made after publication are documented through the journal’s Corrections and Retractions Policy and do not alter the underlying copyright ownership of the article.

13. Relationship Between Copyright and Open Access

Copyright ownership and open-access licensing are distinct.

Authors retain copyright in their articles while granting users defined reuse rights through CC BY 4.0.

The CC BY 4.0 license does not transfer copyright ownership to readers, IJPSC, or third parties. It grants users permission to exercise the rights specified by the license subject to its attribution requirements.

The copyright and licensing terms of IJPSC are consistent with the journal’s Open Access Policy and do not impose restrictions that contradict the applicable Creative Commons license.

14. Website Copyright and Article Copyright

Copyright in peer-reviewed scholarly articles is distinct from copyright in the IJPSC website and other journal materials.

The CC BY 4.0 license applicable to published scholarly articles does not automatically apply to the IJPSC name, logo, trademarks, website design, software, administrative documents, photographs, graphics, or other material unless such material is explicitly identified as being published under that license.

Each published scholarly article carries its own copyright and licensing information.

15. No “All Rights Reserved” for Open-Access Articles

IJPSC does not apply an “All Rights Reserved” statement to peer-reviewed scholarly articles published under CC BY 4.0.

Any copyright notice associated with an open-access article must be interpreted together with the rights granted under the CC BY 4.0 license.

16. Summary of Author and User Rights