Digital Preservation and Persistent Access Policy

Purpose

National Research Journal is committed to maintaining reliable, long-term access to its published scholarly record. This policy describes how journal articles, issue records, correction notices, retraction notices and related publication metadata will be preserved and restored if the journal website becomes unavailable, content links fail, or the journal ceases publication.

Digital preservation is separate from ordinary website hosting. Preservation copies are maintained to support continued access, bibliographic integrity and recovery of the published record.

Content Covered

The preservation programme covers:

• Journal home and policy pages;
• Volume and issue landing pages;
• Individual article landing pages;
• Published Version-of-Record PDFs;
• Tables of contents;
• Article metadata;
• Supplementary materials, when available;
• Editorials and publisher’s notes;
• Corrections and errata;
• Expressions of concern;
• Retraction and withdrawal notices; and
• Version-history and replacement notices.

Private submissions, confidential peer-review reports, unpublished manuscripts and personal information that are not part of the public scholarly record are not deposited in public web archives.

Preservation Arrangements

National Research Journal uses a layered preservation approach.

1. Publisher Repository

The journal’s primary published content is maintained on the official Shirley Publishing House website. Each article is assigned a permanent landing page containing its bibliographic information and a link to the published full text.

Shirley Publishing House retains preservation master copies of:

• Final article PDFs;
• Issue covers and tables of contents;
• Article metadata;
• Publication dates;
• Licence information;
• Correction and retraction notices; and
• Relevant public supplementary files.

Preservation master files must be maintained separately from the live website in at least two controlled storage locations. At least one copy must be stored off-site or through a separate secure storage provider.

2. Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is the journal’s designated independent web-preservation service.

After the release of every issue, Shirley Publishing House will submit and verify archival captures of:

• The NRJ homepage;
• The applicable issue page;
• Every article landing page;
• Every publicly accessible article PDF;
• Relevant journal-policy pages; and
• Published correction or retraction notices.

Preservation is not considered completed merely because a URL was submitted. The publisher must verify that each archived capture opens correctly and that the relevant metadata and full text are accessible.

Where available, verified Internet Archive snapshot links will be recorded in the journal’s internal preservation register. The journal may provide a public “Archived Version” link when a stable and working snapshot has been confirmed.

3. Additional Preservation Services

National Research Journal may subsequently participate in an institutional repository, LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, Portico, PKP Preservation Network or another recognized preservation service.

The website must not display the name, logo or participation claim of any preservation service until the journal has been formally accepted or enrolled and preservation has been verified.

Preservation Workflow

For each published issue, the publisher will:

1. Retain the approved Version-of-Record files and final metadata;
2. Generate a preservation inventory listing every article and public file;
3. Preserve the issue page, article landing pages and PDFs through the designated external archive;
4. Verify that archived copies are accessible;
5. Record the archive URL and capture date;
6. Check that the archived content matches the published Version of Record;
7. Retain local and off-site backup copies; and
8. Repeat the preservation process following material corrections, domain changes or platform migrations.

The preservation register should contain:

• Journal title;
• Volume and issue;
• Article title;
• Author or authors;
• Original publication date;
• Current landing-page URL;
• PDF URL;
• External archive URL;
• Archive capture date;
• File version;
• File checksum, where available; and
• Correction or retraction status.

Persistent Article Access

Each article must have one stable landing page that remains the principal destination for readers, indexing services and DOI resolution when DOIs are assigned.

A persistent article landing page must provide:

• Article title;
• Author names;
• Author affiliations;
• Abstract and keywords;
• Volume, issue and publication date;
• Page range or article number;
• Print ISSN;
• DOI, when assigned;
• Copyright and licence information;
• Version and correction status; and
• Access to the Version-of-Record PDF.

If an article or journal URL changes, the publisher will implement a permanent redirect where technically possible. When an article has a DOI, its registered destination and metadata must be updated promptly.

Broken-Link Monitoring and Restoration

The publisher will inspect the NRJ homepage, issue pages, article landing pages and PDF links at least quarterly and after every major website deployment or domain change.

When a broken or inaccessible link is identified:

1. The publisher will determine whether the error affects the landing page, metadata, PDF or external archive;
2. The correct file will be restored from a verified preservation master;
3. The original URL will be restored or permanently redirected;
4. DOI metadata will be updated when applicable;
5. Internal links, sitemap entries and canonical URLs will be corrected;
6. A replacement capture will be submitted to the external preservation service; and
7. The repair will be recorded in the preservation register.

The journal will aim to restore ordinary broken links within 30 calendar days of confirmation. Urgent problems affecting an entire issue, a DOI destination, a correction or a retraction notice should be addressed as soon as practicable.

Corrections and Updated Articles

National Research Journal does not silently replace published articles when a change affects findings, interpretation, attribution, authorship, ethics, disclosures or the scholarly meaning of the work.

For a material correction:

• The original Version of Record will be retained;
• A dated correction notice will be published;
• The correction notice and article will link to each other;
• The corrected article will identify its new version and correction date;
• The version history will explain what changed;
• Metadata and DOI records will be updated where applicable; and
• Both the correction notice and corrected version will be preserved.

Minor typographical or formatting corrections that do not affect meaning may be made without a separate correction article, but the publisher should retain an internal record of the change.

Expressions of Concern and Retractions

An expression of concern or retraction does not normally result in deletion of the original article.

For retracted content:

• The original article will remain accessible for the historical record;
• Every page of the PDF will be clearly marked “RETRACTED”;
• The article landing page will display its retracted status prominently;
• A dated retraction notice will explain the reason for the action;
• The original article and retraction notice will link to each other;
• Metadata and DOI records will be updated where applicable; and
• The article and retraction notice will both be preserved.

Content may be removed only in exceptional circumstances involving a legal obligation, binding order, serious privacy or safety risk, unlawful content or another compelling reason. When removal is necessary, the journal will retain a public tombstone page identifying the removed work and explaining the reason, to the extent legally and ethically permitted.

Journal Closure or Transfer

If National Research Journal ceases publication, Shirley Publishing House will make reasonable arrangements to preserve continued public access to its existing scholarly record.

The publisher will:

• Keep article landing pages and full text accessible for as long as practicable;
• Maintain or redirect the journal’s domain and article URLs;
• Keep DOI destinations active and updated, when applicable;
• Preserve verified copies through the Internet Archive;
• Transfer preservation master files and metadata to a suitable institutional repository, successor publisher, scholarly archive or custodian when available;
• Publish a closure notice identifying where the archive will remain accessible; and
• Maintain access to corrections, expressions of concern and retraction notices.

Journal closure will not revoke previously granted open-access licences.

Legacy and Pre-ISSN Content

The preservation of a legacy article establishes that an online copy was archived on the capture date. It does not, by itself, prove the article’s claimed original publication date.

NRJ materials from the 2020–2021 pre-ISSN period must retain:

• Their legacy-content designation;
• Their stated original publication period;
• Their later digitization or online-upload date;
• Their non-peer-reviewed disclosure, where applicable; and
• Any available independent evidence supporting their publication history.

The current Print ISSN must not be inserted retrospectively into preserved scans of original pre-ISSN issues.

Responsibilities

Shirley Publishing House is responsible for:

• Maintaining preservation master files;
• Performing and documenting backups;
• Verifying external archive captures;
• Monitoring links;
• Restoring unavailable content;
• Maintaining DOI destinations;
• Preserving correction and retraction records; and
• Reviewing this policy annually.

The publisher will update this page whenever its preservation provider, repository, website domain or long-term custody arrangements change.

Preservation Status

Primary repository

Shirley Publishing House

External preservation service

Internet Archive

Link-monitoring frequency

Quarterly

Policy review frequency

Annual