1. Copyright Ownership
Authors retain the copyright in articles published by TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP. Authors are not required to transfer copyright to the publisher as a condition of publication.
By submitting and publishing an article, the authors grant TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP a non-exclusive right to:
- publish, reproduce, distribute, display, and archive the article;
- identify itself and the relevant journal as the original publisher;
- assign a DOI and publish the article in electronic, print, and other appropriate formats;
- deposit or distribute the article through indexing services, repositories, preservation systems, and scholarly databases; and
- make editorial, technical, and formatting changes that do not alter the scholarly meaning of the article.
Because this licence is non-exclusive, authors remain free to use, reproduce, distribute, and republish their work, subject to proper acknowledgement of the original publication.
2. Creative Commons Licence
All articles published by TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0), unless a different licence is clearly stated on the article.
Under the CC BY 4.0 licence, users may:
- read, download, copy, share, and redistribute the published material;
- reproduce the material in any medium or format;
- adapt, translate, transform, or build upon the material; and
- use the material for commercial or non-commercial purposes.
These permissions apply provided that users:
- give appropriate credit to the author or authors;
- cite the original article and journal;
- include a reference or link to the CC BY 4.0 licence;
- indicate whether any changes were made; and
- do not imply that the authors, journal, or publisher endorse the reuse or adaptation.
No additional restrictions may be applied that would prevent others from exercising the rights granted under the CC BY 4.0 licence.
3. Author Rights
Authors retain the right to:
- share the submitted, accepted, and published versions of their article;
- deposit their article in institutional, disciplinary, governmental, or personal repositories;
- publish the article on personal, institutional, or academic networking websites;
- use the article in teaching, presentations, lectures, theses, dissertations, and future research;
- reproduce portions of the article in later works, including books and edited collections;
- translate or adapt the article; and
- authorize third parties to reuse the article in accordance with the CC BY 4.0 licence.
When republishing or redistributing the article, authors should acknowledge the article’s original publication in the relevant TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP journal and include its complete citation and DOI, where available.
4. Author Warranties and Responsibilities
By submitting a manuscript, the corresponding author confirms, on behalf of all co-authors, that:
- the manuscript is an original work;
- the authors have the authority to submit and license the work;
- all individuals who qualify for authorship have been properly identified;
- the manuscript does not unlawfully infringe the copyright, privacy, confidentiality, trademark, or other rights of any person or organization;
- all copyrighted material reproduced from other sources has been properly acknowledged;
- all necessary permissions have been obtained for third-party material not covered by an applicable exception or open licence; and
- the manuscript is not subject to an exclusive publishing agreement that conflicts with this policy.
Authors remain responsible for the accuracy of copyright statements, permissions, acknowledgements, citations, and source attributions included in their articles.
5. Third-Party Material
The CC BY 4.0 licence applies to the article as a whole unless otherwise indicated. Certain photographs, illustrations, maps, figures, tables, datasets, instruments, extracts, or other third-party materials may be subject to separate copyright or licensing conditions.
When third-party material is not included under the article’s CC BY 4.0 licence, this must be clearly stated in the relevant caption, credit line, or acknowledgement.
Anyone wishing to reuse excluded third-party material is responsible for determining its copyright status and obtaining permission directly from the copyright holder when required.
6. Previously Published Material
Authors must obtain written permission before reproducing copyrighted material that has previously been published and is not available under a licence permitting the intended reuse.
Evidence of permission may be requested during editorial review or production. Permissions must cover publication and online distribution under the conditions applicable to the article.
Material available under a Creative Commons or other open licence may be reused only in accordance with the terms of that licence and with complete attribution.
7. Author Manuscript Sharing and Self-Archiving
TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP permits immediate self-archiving without an embargo period.
Authors may deposit any of the following versions:
- the submitted manuscript;
- the accepted author manuscript; and
- the final published version of record.
The final published version should be used whenever possible. Deposited copies should include the complete publication citation, the name of the journal, the DOI, and a reference to the CC BY 4.0 licence.
8. Text and Data Mining
Published articles may be used for text mining, data mining, computational analysis, machine learning, and other automated research methods in accordance with the CC BY 4.0 licence.
Users must provide appropriate attribution when publicly distributing identifiable article content, extracted material, adaptations, or research outputs based on published articles.
9. Publisher Content, Name, and Branding
The CC BY 4.0 licence applied to journal articles does not automatically grant permission to reuse the publisher’s or journal’s:
- logos;
- trademarks;
- service marks;
- website design;
- journal cover designs;
- proprietary branding; or
- administrative and promotional materials.
These materials may not be used in a manner that suggests sponsorship, approval, affiliation, or endorsement by TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP without prior written permission.
10. Moral Rights and Attribution
Authors retain their moral rights to be identified as the creators of their work and to object to uses that falsely attribute, materially misrepresent, or distort their work, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
Adaptations and translations must clearly state that changes have been made. They must not be presented as the original version published by the journal.
A recommended attribution is:
Author(s). “Article Title.” Journal Title, volume, issue, year, page range or article number, DOI. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
11. Copyright Infringement
TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP respects intellectual property rights and investigates credible reports of copyright infringement.
A copyright complaint should include:
- identification of the copyrighted work;
- identification and location of the allegedly infringing material;
- the complainant’s name and contact information;
- a statement explaining the complainant’s rights in the material;
- a good-faith statement that the disputed use is not authorized; and
- supporting documentation, where applicable.
The publisher may temporarily restrict access to disputed material while a complaint is reviewed. Where infringement is established, the publisher may correct, remove, retract, or replace the material, as appropriate, while maintaining a transparent scholarly record.
12. Corrections, Retractions, and Removal
Copyright ownership does not prevent TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP from issuing corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or removal notices when required to protect the integrity of the scholarly record or comply with legal obligations.
Retracted articles will normally remain accessible with a clear retraction notice unless removal is required because of a court order, serious legal risk, privacy violation, or other exceptional circumstance.
13. No Publication Charges
The copyright and licensing rights described in this policy are not conditional upon payment by authors. All journals published by TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP operate under a Diamond Open Access model and do not charge article processing charges, submission fees, publication fees, or mandatory open-access fees.
14. Policy Updates
TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP may revise this policy to reflect developments in copyright law, open-access standards, publishing practices, or Creative Commons licensing. Any revised policy will apply prospectively and will not alter the licence under which an article was originally published.
Publisher: TECHFORUM PUBLISHING GROUP
Address: Allee 1, 45143 Essen, Germany
Open-access model: Diamond Open Access
Publication licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Copyright: Retained by the authors