Repository Policy

The Archives of Clinical and Experimental Orthopaedics (ACEO) supports self-archiving and long-term digital preservation of published works. This policy ensures that authors and institutions can deposit versions of articles in repositories freely, enhancing accessibility, citation, and research visibility.

“Knowledge should live beyond paywalls — repositories preserve the legacy of science.”

1. Repository Policy Overview

ACEO adheres to the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) best practices and the SHERPA/RoMEO guidelines, enabling authors to deposit preprints, postprints, and published versions in institutional and subject repositories.

  • All ACEO content is openly available under the CC BY 4.0 License.
  • Repositories may host ACEO content without prior permission.
  • Authors are encouraged to include citation and DOI links in all archived versions.

2. Self-Archiving Rights

Authors are permitted to archive any of the following versions in personal, institutional, or subject repositories:

Version Archiving Permission Conditions
Preprint (Before Peer Review) ✔ Allowed Include a statement: “This is a preprint that has not undergone peer review.”
Postprint (Accepted Manuscript) ✔ Allowed Must cite final publication DOI and link to publisher’s version.
Publisher’s Version (PDF) ✔ Allowed Retain CC BY 4.0 license and DOI reference.

3. Institutional and Subject Repositories

ACEO encourages archiving in recognized repositories to promote scholarly visibility:

  • Institutional Repositories: Harvard DASH, Oxford ORA, Cambridge Apollo.
  • Subject Repositories: PubMed Central, Europe PMC, arXiv, bioRxiv, ResearchGate, Mendeley Data.
  • Global Indexing Platforms: OpenAIRE, Semantic Scholar, BASE, Scilit, Dimensions.

4. Metadata and Interoperability

To ensure discoverability, all archived content must include machine-readable metadata fields. ACEO provides structured metadata through OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting).

Essential metadata fields include:

  • Article Title and DOI
  • Authors and Affiliations
  • Abstract and Keywords
  • Publication Date and Volume/Issue
  • License Type (CC BY 4.0)

5. Digital Preservation Systems

All ACEO articles are preserved through multiple trusted digital archives to prevent loss or corruption:

6. Repository Deposit License

All deposited content must retain its original Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License declaration. Repository managers are requested to maintain the copyright statement intact.

7. Linking and Citation

All repository versions must include the following reference format:

Author(s) Name(s). Title of the Article. Archives of Clinical and Experimental Orthopaedics. Year; Volume(Issue): Page range. DOI: https://doi.org/[DOI]

This ensures proper credit and accurate citation tracking across systems.

8. Compliance with Funding Mandates

ACEO’s repository policy fully complies with funder mandates such as:

  • Plan S (cOAlition S)
  • NIH Public Access Policy
  • Wellcome Trust Open Access Policy
  • European Research Council (ERC) Open Science Policy

9. Indexing and Discoverability

To enhance accessibility and global visibility, ACEO ensures automatic metadata synchronization and indexing in:

10. Author Responsibilities

  • Ensure deposited files match the accepted or final published version.
  • Retain DOI, journal name, and license details in metadata.
  • Notify the publisher if major repository errors or mismatched versions occur.

11. Version Control

Repositories must clearly label versions using the following standard tags:

Label Meaning
Preprint Version before peer review.
Accepted Manuscript Post-peer review, pre-typeset version.
Published Version Final journal version (VOR) with DOI.

12. OAI-PMH Harvesting Endpoint

ACEO supports automated metadata harvesting using the following endpoint:

OAI Base URL: https://www.exporthopaedicjournal.com/oai
Supported Metadata Formats: Dublin Core (oai_dc), MARCXML, and METS
Granularity: YYYY-MM-DD

13. Retention and Preservation

All repository data and metadata are stored permanently. The publisher guarantees continued access to the content even in cases of journal discontinuation or transfer of ownership.

14. Policy Transparency

This policy is publicly available under ACEO’s “Policies” section and registered with SHERPA Publishers Policy Directory.

15. Conclusion

The Repository Policy of ACEO promotes long-term accessibility, interoperability, and discoverability of scholarly content. By supporting open repositories, ACEO contributes to global scientific exchange and the preservation of academic heritage.