Copyright and Licensing Policy

Copyright and Licensing Policy

Agricultural Science Horizons (ASH), published by the Gondars Institute of Research and Skill Development (GIRSD), is committed to promoting open, transparent, and accessible scholarly communication. The journal supports the unrestricted dissemination of scientific knowledge while protecting authors' intellectual property rights and ensuring proper attribution of published work.

This policy is developed in accordance with internationally recognized publishing standards, including the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and practices commonly expected by Scopus, DOAJ, and Web of Science indexed journals.

1. Copyright Ownership

Authors retain full copyright ownership of their published work. Submission, acceptance, and publication in Agricultural Science Horizons do not transfer copyright ownership to the journal, editors, publisher, or any third party.

By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that they are the legitimate copyright holders or have obtained all necessary permissions to publish copyrighted materials included in their work.

Authors remain responsible for the originality, legality, and intellectual property rights associated with all submitted content.

2. Publishing License Granted to the Journal

Upon acceptance for publication, authors grant Agricultural Science Horizons and GIRSD a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual license to publish, reproduce, distribute, archive, preserve, index, and display the published work in all media formats for scholarly communication purposes.

This publishing license allows the journal to disseminate and preserve the work while authors continue to retain copyright ownership.

3. Open Access Licensing

All articles published in Agricultural Science Horizons are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

This license permits any user to copy, share, distribute, transmit, adapt, remix, transform, translate, text and data mine, and build upon the published material for any lawful purpose, including commercial use, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source.

Users must provide proper attribution, include a link to the license, and indicate whether any modifications were made to the original work.

4. Rights Retained by Authors

Authors retain extensive rights over their published work.

Authors may share, reproduce, distribute, archive, translate, adapt, and reuse their articles without requesting permission from the journal, provided that proper citation to the original publication in Agricultural Science Horizons is included.

Authors may use their published articles for educational activities, conference presentations, institutional reports, grant applications, books, dissertations, teaching materials, and future scholarly works.

5. Repository and Self-Archiving Policy

Agricultural Science Horizons fully supports responsible self-archiving practices.

Authors may deposit preprints, accepted manuscripts, and final published versions in institutional repositories, subject repositories, personal websites, laboratory websites, academic social networks, funding agency repositories, and institutional research information systems.

No embargo period is imposed by the journal.

Authors are encouraged to include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and a citation to the official published version whenever available.

6. Third-Party Materials and Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission for any third-party materials that are not covered by fair use, public domain status, or compatible open licenses.

Third-party materials may include copyrighted figures, tables, photographs, maps, illustrations, questionnaires, datasets, videos, software, or other protected content.

Evidence of permission may be requested during the editorial process.

Failure to obtain appropriate permissions may result in rejection, delayed publication, correction, or retraction when necessary.

7. Attribution Requirements

Any reuse of content published in Agricultural Science Horizons must appropriately acknowledge the original source.

Attribution should include the names of the author(s), article title, journal title, publication year, volume, issue, page numbers where applicable, Digital Object Identifier (DOI), and a statement indicating that the work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

8. Text and Data Mining

Agricultural Science Horizons permits text and data mining, machine reading, computational analysis, and artificial intelligence-assisted indexing of published content in accordance with the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license and applicable laws.

Users performing automated analyses must preserve proper attribution and maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.

9. Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Responsibility

Artificial intelligence systems, software applications, or automated tools cannot be recognized as authors or copyright holders.

Human authors remain fully responsible for all submitted and published content, including any materials generated or assisted by artificial intelligence technologies.

Authors must ensure that AI-assisted content does not infringe intellectual property rights or generate unauthorized copyrighted material.

10. Preservation and Long-Term Accessibility

Agricultural Science Horizons is committed to preserving scholarly content for long-term accessibility and future generations of researchers.

The journal may archive and preserve published materials through multiple digital preservation systems, institutional repositories, and recognized archiving services to ensure permanent accessibility.

11. Infringement and Copyright Complaints

Individuals or organizations who believe their copyright has been infringed may submit a formal complaint to the editorial office.

Complaints should include sufficient evidence supporting ownership claims and a detailed description of the alleged infringement.

The journal will investigate complaints promptly, fairly, and confidentially in accordance with established ethical procedures.

Corrective actions may include content modification, temporary restriction, formal correction, or removal when legally required.

12. Policy Review and International Compliance

This policy may be periodically updated to align with evolving international publishing standards, legal requirements, and best practices in scholarly communication.

Agricultural Science Horizons and GIRSD remain committed to promoting ethical, transparent, accessible, and responsible open-access publishing for the global scientific community.

13. Recommended Copyright Statement

Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This article is published by Agricultural Science Horizons under the Gondars Institute of Research and Skill Development (GIRSD) and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).