Open Access Policy

Free access to the full text of scholarly publications, conditions for reuse and repository deposit, and continuity of access.

01. Principle and scope

Irrigation and Melioration provides immediate open access to articles published under this policy. Full texts are freely available online from the moment of publication. This applies to all scholarly articles, including those in special and thematic issues published under the policy.

The model involves no subscription, reading charge or embargo period. Access covers the complete published text, rather than only a title, abstract or extract. The original publication conditions of archival material are considered separately.

Core terms: full text immediately on publication; free reading and downloading; no mandatory registration; reuse under CC BY 4.0 subject to clearly marked exclusions.

02. Access for readers

Readers may freely open, read, download and print full texts, search their contents and link to articles. Access does not depend on country, employment or educational affiliation, membership of a professional organisation or an institutional subscription.

An OJS account used for submission, peer review or editorial work is not required to read published articles. Readers do not have to request access, justify their purpose, provide contact details or accept marketing messages to obtain a full text.

An article published under this model will not be placed behind a paywall because funding changes, an author fee coverage period ends or a reader lacks a subscription. Temporary technical failures are addressed as described below.

03. Licence and reuse

Articles are distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Subject to its terms, copying, sharing, translation and adaptation of covered material, including commercial reuse, require no separate permission from the author or editorial office.

When sharing material, identify its authors and source, retain supplied rights, licence and warranty notices, link to the licence and identify modifications. Do not imply that the authors or journal endorse an adaptation, or impose restrictions that prevent exercise of the licensed rights.

For scholarly citation, a complete bibliographic reference with the DOI or permanent article URL is recommended. Detailed provisions on attribution, exclusions, licence operation and rights protection are set out in the Copyright and Licensing Policy; this page does not change them.

04. Author rights and publication quality

Authors retain the copyright they own and grant the publisher the necessary non-exclusive permission to publish and distribute their work. The journal does not require assignment of exclusive rights as a condition of open access. Author authority and the rights of co-authors, employers or other rights holders are checked under the Copyright and Licensing Policy.

Open access does not replace scholarly assessment. Research articles undergo the established peer review and editorial checks; decisions rest on scholarly grounds. Neither a service payment nor institutional cost coverage guarantees acceptance or an accelerated favourable decision.

05. Publication costs and institutional coverage

Reading and downloading articles are free. Publication costs are handled separately: the standard Article Processing Charge (APC) is USD 100 per accepted article. There is no separate submission or manuscript assessment fee, and no APC is charged for a rejected article.

Under the institutional programme running through 31 December 2026 inclusive, the APC is covered by the Institute — Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers National Research University. For articles covered by the programme, the amount payable by the author is USD 0.

Coverage conditions, including treatment across calendar years, are disclosed in the Publication Fees Policy. Eligible authors receive coverage regardless of country or affiliation; no separate waiver application is required. Terms for the next period are published before submission, and previously confirmed coverage is not withdrawn unilaterally.

Hidden compulsory charges and influence of the payment source on scholarly decisions are prohibited. Changes to the APC or programme duration do not alter the licences of already published articles or restrict access to them. This page does not replace the detailed Publication Fees Policy.

06. Repository deposit

Authors may deposit a preprint, the author manuscript accepted after peer review and the published version in institutional or subject repositories, on personal websites and on other lawful platforms without a journal-imposed embargo, within the rights they hold.

The version must be identified accurately as a preprint, accepted manuscript or final published text. After publication, add the article-page link or DOI, bibliographic details and the reuse terms for that version. The final article’s licence is not automatically assigned to every earlier file.

Existing preprints must be disclosed on submission. Following an article correction or retraction, the repository record should link to the relevant notice. The complete procedure is set out in the Repository Policy.

07. Article pages, metadata and machine processing

Each article has its own permanent webpage with bibliographic information and access to its individual full text in at least one of PDF or HTML. Where a DOI has been assigned, it is shown on the page and in the publication. Licence information on the page, in the full text and in distributed metadata must be consistent.

Search indexing, automated text and data analysis, and use of covered material by AI developers are permitted within the open licence and applicable law. Applicable licence conditions remain in force when protected excerpts are shared. This does not grant access to confidential editorial records or permission to bypass access controls.

A DOI and open metadata support discovery but do not themselves establish inclusion of the journal in a particular database. Indexing information is published only on the basis of verified status.

08. Supplementary material and limits of openness

Open access to an article does not automatically disclose all underlying data, signed consent forms, unpublished reviews or editorial correspondence. Personal, confidential and other lawfully restricted information is protected under the relevant policies and legislation.

Author-created textual and illustrative supplements forming part of the article share its licence unless an individual item is expressly marked otherwise. Standalone datasets, software code and material in external repositories have their own stated terms. Reasons for controlled access and the request procedure are disclosed in the data availability statement.

Reused material with separate rights conditions must carry a clear credit line identifying the rights holder and applicable terms. Being free to view does not create additional adaptation rights. Restrictions on a particular supplement or element do not justify closing the rest of the article without an independent lawful basis.

09. Archives, preservation and continuity

The Institute is responsible for organising the preservation of electronic material and restoration of access. The Digital Archiving Policy provides for backups at least monthly, held at the Institute’s data centre and library. Copy verification, recovery and long-term preservation are governed by that separate policy.

An open web archive, an operational website backup and independent long-term preservation serve different functions. This statement does not establish participation in an external archiving system. On a platform migration or journal closure, the Institute and library arrange preservation of files, identifiers, original dates, licences and change history, and continued access or archive transfer.

For previously published material, actual availability and original rights must be stated. Free reading and reuse under an open licence are distinct. Moving an older issue to a new site does not change its publication date or automatically replace its original licence.

10. Corrections, access problems and policy updates

Correction notices, expressions of concern and retraction notices are freely accessible and linked to the relevant publication. A retracted article is normally retained with a prominent label. Specific material may be restricted for a justified legal requirement, protection of personal data or a serious risk; its bibliographic record and an explanation are retained wherever possible.

Report an inaccessible file, an unjustified payment request, an incorrect licence or mandatory registration for reading to i_m_jurnal@tiiame.uz. Provide the link or DOI and a brief description. The editorial office arranges investigation and restoration of access; do not send passwords or login codes.

Requests are handled under the Complaints and Appeals Policy. Revisions to this document are published with the actual update date and an explanation of substantive changes. New rules are not used to conceal restrictions on rights previously lawfully granted.

Basis and professional guidance

This policy is consistent with open access principles and the journal’s Copyright and Licensing Policy. Mandatory provisions of the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the licence terms of the individual material apply.

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ISSN 2181-1369 (Online)