The Archives of Psychiatry and Mental Health (APMH) follows a transparent, author-centered copyright and licensing framework aligned with international open-access publishing guidelines. The predecessor website indicates that authors retain rights to their work while publishing under an open-access model. This updated policy expands significantly on those foundations, incorporating Creative Commons licensing, ethical use requirements, and compliance with global scholarly publishing standards.

1. Copyright Ownership

APMH strongly supports author rights. All authors publishing with APMH retain full copyright ownership of their work. Upon acceptance of a manuscript, authors grant APMH a non-exclusive license to:

Publish the article online
Distribute, index, and archive the article in scholarly repositories
Deposit metadata and licensing information with Crossref and other indexing bodies
Promote the article through academic and professional channels

The non-exclusive nature of this license ensures authors may reuse their content in future books, presentations, derivative works, or teaching materials without needing additional permission.

2. Author Rights

Authors maintain the following rights:

Right to deposit any version of the manuscript (submitted, accepted, or published) into institutional or subject repositories with no embargo.
Right to use article content in future publications with attribution.
Right to share and distribute the article freely online.
Right to reuse figures, tables, and supplementary materials in other works.
Right to archive or mirror the published article on personal or institutional websites.

These rights affirm authors’ complete control over their intellectual property.

3. Licensing: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)

All articles published in APMH are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license allows:

Unrestricted use — including commercial use
Sharing — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adaptation — remix, transform, and build upon the material

Requirement: Any reuse must include proper attribution to the original authors and the journal.

The CC BY 4.0 license is preferred by many funders, including the Wellcome Trust, NIH, European Commission, and other major global funding agencies.

4. Attribution Requirements

To comply with CC BY 4.0, all reused APMH content must include:

Full citation of the original article
Author names
Journal title (APMH)
DOI link
Statement of license (e.g., “Licensed under CC BY 4.0”)

Attribution ensures academic credit is preserved and scholarly recognition is maintained.

5. User Rights

Under CC BY 4.0, users enjoy broad rights to:

Download and save articles
Print, distribute, or share full-text content
Incorporate materials into presentations, teaching content, or policy documents
Translate articles into other languages
Create derivative works and adaptations

No additional permission is required, provided attribution is included.

6. Publisher Rights

While authors retain copyright, APMH holds the right to:

Host the final publication on its website
Index metadata with Crossref and other partners
Promote and distribute the published content
Enforce the license terms if misuse occurs

7. Reuse of Third-Party Material

Authors must ensure that any third-party content included in their manuscripts—such as images, charts, or extended quotations—is either:

Original work created by the authors
Licensed under a compatible Creative Commons license
Used with written permission from the copyright holder

APMH is not responsible for copyright violations within submitted manuscripts but will assist authors in making corrections if needed.

8. Licensing for Supplementary Materials

Supplementary materials (datasets, audiovisual files, appendices, code) are by default included under the CC BY 4.0 license unless explicitly stated otherwise by authors.

Authors must clearly label supplementary items that require different licensing.

9. Funding Agency Compliance

APMH’s CC BY 4.0 license ensures compliance with:

Plan S (cOAlition S)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
European Commission Open Access Mandates
Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation requirements
UNESCO Open Science recommendations

10. Commercial Use Permissions

Under CC BY 4.0, commercial entities may:

Reuse diagrams and findings in commercial presentations
Incorporate text or figures into training materials
Translate content into publications or products

As long as proper attribution is provided, no additional permission is required.

11. Withdrawal of Copyright License

Under Creative Commons guidelines, authors cannot revoke permitted uses of previously licensed content. However:

Authors may withdraw an article from submission before acceptance.
Post-publication corrections, retractions, or updates remain governed by COPE and publisher policy.

12. Copyright Infringement Process

APMH handles copyright disputes following COPE procedures:

Initial assessment by the editorial office
Communication with involved parties
Temporary removal of disputed content (if necessary)
Issuance of correction, retraction, or updated licensing statement

13. AI-Generated Content and Licensing

Authors must ensure:

AI tools (e.g., language models) are acknowledged when used
AI does not introduce copyrighted third-party material
Responsibility for accuracy, originality, and permissions remains with the human authors

APMH does not claim copyright over AI-assisted text unless contributed by authors.

14. Real-World Scenario

Scenario: A public health NGO in Brazil develops an adolescent mental health training program. They incorporate diagrams and explanations from an APMH article into their teaching materials. Because the work is published under CC BY 4.0, they may freely use, modify, and distribute the content—even commercially—as long as they include attribution. This enables the NGO to provide evidence-based education at no cost to vulnerable communities.

15. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I reuse my own article elsewhere?: Yes. As the copyright holder, you may reuse it in books, chapters, or teaching materials.
Q: Do I need permission to share APMH content?: No—CC BY 4.0 explicitly allows sharing with attribution.
Q: Can commercial companies reuse APMH content?: Yes. Commercial reuse is permitted under CC BY 4.0.
Q: Does APMH retain any copyright?: No. APMH holds only a non-exclusive publishing license.
Q: May I modify or translate APMH articles?: Yes. You may adapt, remix, or translate content with attribution.

Conclusion

APMH’s copyright and licensing framework empowers authors, accelerates global dissemination, supports collaboration, and promotes unrestricted public access to scientific knowledge. By combining an author-centered copyright policy with the open and flexible CC BY 4.0 license, APMH ensures that mental health research serves the widest possible audience—today and in the future.

Copyright and Licensing