Open Access Policy

Applies To: Authors, Readers, Editors, Reviewers, Publishers, Institutions, Libraries, Funding Agencies, and Other Stakeholders

1. Purpose

The Gazette of Medicine (TGM) is committed to the unrestricted dissemination of high-quality scientific and medical knowledge. As the official peer-reviewed journal of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), TGM believes that unrestricted access to scholarly literature promotes scientific advancement, improves healthcare delivery, supports evidence-based clinical practice, encourages collaboration, and enhances global knowledge exchange.

This Open Access Policy outlines the journal's commitment to making published research freely available to readers worldwide without financial, legal, or technical barriers.

TGM supports the principles of equitable access to scientific information and aligns its publication practices with internationally recognized standards and recommendations from the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

 

2. Policy Statement

The Gazette of Medicine is a fully Open Access journal.

All published articles are made freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication.

Readers may access, read, download, print, copy, distribute, search, link to, and use published articles for lawful purposes without requiring prior permission from the publisher or authors, provided appropriate attribution is given.

No subscription or registration is required to access published content.

 

3. Objectives of the Open Access Policy

The objectives of this policy are to:

· Promote unrestricted global access to medical knowledge.

· Increase the visibility and impact of published research.

· Support evidence-based clinical practice.

· Encourage scientific collaboration.

· Improve healthcare education.

· Enhance knowledge translation.

· Promote research equity, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

· Facilitate rapid dissemination of research findings.

· Encourage citation and wider scholarly engagement.

 

4. Scope

This policy applies to all content published in TGM, including but not limited to:

· Original Research Articles

· Systematic Reviews

· Meta-analyses

· Narrative Reviews

· Case Reports

· Short Communications

· Clinical Practice Articles

· Editorials

· Commentaries

· Perspectives

· Letters to the Editor

· Special Articles

· Conference Proceedings (where applicable)

· Supplements

· Clinical Images

· Technical Notes

 

5. Immediate Open Access

All accepted manuscripts are published under an immediate Open Access model.

There is:

· No embargo period.

· No delayed access.

· No subscription-only content.

· No reader access fees.

Articles become freely available immediately after publication on the journal website.

 

6. Reader Rights

Readers may, without requesting permission:

· Use articles for teaching.

· Read articles.

· Download full-text articles.

· Print articles.

· Save articles electronically.

· Share articles with colleagues.

· Cite articles.

· Link to articles.

· Use articles for research.

· Include articles in course materials.

· Include articles in institutional repositories where permitted by the applicable licence.

· Use articles in systematic reviews and evidence syntheses.

· Translate articles where permitted under the applicable licence and with proper attribution.

· Mine text and data for lawful research purposes, subject to the licence terms.

All use must properly acknowledge the original publication.

 

7. Author Rights

Authors retain copyright in their published work unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Authors have the right to:

· Share published articles.

· Deposit published versions in institutional repositories.

· Deposit articles in subject repositories.

· Deposit articles on personal websites.

· Share through academic networking platforms where licence terms permit.

· Use articles in teaching.

· Include articles in dissertations or theses.

· Reproduce articles in books authored or edited by them with appropriate acknowledgement.

· Present findings at conferences.

· Share with funding agencies.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring compliance with the terms of the selected licence.

 

8. Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, copyright remains with the author(s).

Authors grant TGM a non-exclusive licence to:

· Publish the article.

· Identify itself as the original publisher.

· Archive the publication.

· Distribute the publication.

· Preserve the scholarly record.

Authors warrant that the submitted work:

· Is original.

· Does not infringe third-party rights.

· Has obtained necessary permissions for copyrighted material.

· Complies with all applicable ethical standards.

 

9. Licensing

TGM encourages publication under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence, which permits copying, redistribution, adaptation, and commercial use provided appropriate credit is given.

Where justified by legal, ethical, or funding requirements, other Creative Commons licences (such as CC BY-NC 4.0 or CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) may be considered, provided they remain compatible with the journal’s Open Access principles and are clearly indicated on the published article.

The applicable licence for each article will be displayed prominently on the article webpage and PDF.

 

10. Article Processing Charges (APCs)

To support editorial management, peer review administration, production, online hosting, indexing, and long-term preservation, TGM may charge an Article Processing Charge (APC).

The journal is committed to transparency regarding publication fees.

Accordingly:

· APCs, where applicable, shall be clearly displayed on the journal website.

· Submission of manuscripts is not contingent upon payment.

· Editorial decisions are made independently of an author's ability to pay.

· APCs shall not influence editorial or peer review decisions.

· Authors shall be informed of applicable fees only after editorial processes requiring payment become relevant.

 

11. APC Waivers and Discounts

TGM is committed to equitable publishing opportunities.

The journal may provide:

· Full APC waivers.

· Partial APC waivers.

· Discounts for eligible authors.

Eligibility may include:

· Resident doctors.

· Any other individual

Waiver decisions shall duly made by editorial board and the executives

 

12. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are based solely on:

· Scientific merit.

· Originality.

· Methodological quality.

· Ethical compliance.

· Relevance to the journal's scope.

Financial considerations shall never influence editorial decisions.

Editors and reviewers shall remain independent of financial transactions.

 

13. Repository Policy

Authors are encouraged to deposit published articles in:

· Institutional repositories.

· University repositories.

· Government repositories.

· Subject repositories.

· National digital libraries.

· Funding agency repositories.

The final published version should be used where permitted, with full citation to the version of record.

 

14. Self-Archiving Policy

Authors may immediately archive:

· The submitted manuscript (preprint), subject to the journal’s preprint policy.

· The accepted manuscript (author accepted manuscript), where permitted.

· The final published version (version of record), in accordance with the applicable licence.

Repositories should include:

· Full citation.

· DOI (where available).

· Link to the journal website.

· Licence information.

 

15. Digital Preservation

To ensure permanent accessibility, TGM shall implement appropriate digital preservation strategies, which may include:

· Participation in trusted archiving services (e.g., LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, or Portico) where feasible.

· Regular backups of journal content.

· Institutional server redundancy.

· Persistent identifiers such as Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs).

· Preservation of metadata in indexing services.

 

16. Indexing and Discoverability

TGM seeks to maximize the visibility of published articles through indexing in appropriate databases and directories, subject to meeting their eligibility criteria.

The journal will work toward inclusion in recognized services such as:

· Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

· Google Scholar

· Crossref

· African Journals Online (AJOL)

· PubMed Central (where eligible)

· Scopus (where eligible)

· Web of Science (where eligible)

 

17. Long-Term Accessibility

The journal shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that published articles remain permanently accessible through:

· Stable online hosting.

· Digital preservation systems.

· Persistent identifiers.

· Metadata preservation.

· Regular platform maintenance.

 

18. Third-Party Use

Third parties may reuse Open Access content in accordance with the applicable licence, provided they:

· Give appropriate credit to the authors and journal.

· Provide a link to the licence.

· Indicate whether changes were made.

· Do not misrepresent the original work or imply endorsement by TGM or the authors.

 

19. Commercial Use

Where articles are published under a licence permitting commercial reuse (e.g., CC BY 4.0), commercial use is allowed with proper attribution.

For articles published under more restrictive licences, commercial use requires compliance with the specific licence terms or prior permission where necessary.

 

20. Research Data

Authors are encouraged to make supporting research data openly available whenever ethical, legal, and privacy considerations permit.

Where data cannot be shared, authors should provide a statement explaining the restrictions.

 

21. Compliance with Funder Policies

TGM supports authors in complying with the Open Access requirements of research funders and institutions.

Where funders require specific licensing or repository deposit, authors should notify the journal during submission.

 

22. Ethical Standards

Open Access does not diminish the journal's commitment to:

· Rigorous peer review.

· Editorial independence.

· Publication ethics.

· Research integrity.

· Patient confidentiality.

· Conflict of interest disclosure.

· Responsible reporting.

· Corrections and retractions where required.

All manuscripts remain subject to the journal's Editorial, Peer Review, Ethics, and Plagiarism Policies.

 

23. Relationship with Other Journal Policies

This Open Access Policy should be read together with the journal's:

· Editorial Policy

· Peer Review Policy

· Publication Ethics and Malpractice Policy

· Copyright Policy

· Privacy Policy

· Plagiarism Policy

· Data Sharing Policy

· AI and Generative Technology Policy

· Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern Policy

· Author Guidelines

 

24. Policy Review

This policy shall be reviewed at least every three (3) years, or earlier if necessary, to reflect developments in scholarly publishing, Open Access standards, legal requirements, and international best practices.

 

25. Contact Information

Questions regarding this Open Access Policy should be directed to the Editorial Office, The Gazette of Medicine (TGM), Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) using the official contact details published on the journal website.

 

Declaration

By submitting a manuscript to The Gazette of Medicine (TGM), authors acknowledge that, upon acceptance, their work will be published under the journal's Open Access model and the applicable Creative Commons licence. Authors confirm that they have the authority to grant the necessary publishing rights, understand the terms of Open Access publication, and agree that their work may be freely accessed and reused in accordance with the licence applied to the published article.