Open Access Policy

What Open Access Means at APMH

Open access at APMH means:

  • No paywalls or subscription fees.
  • Immediate availability of all articles upon publication.
  • No login or institutional access required.
  • Free reuse, redistribution, adaptation, and sharing permitted under a Creative Commons license.
  • Persistent accessibility through digital archiving and repository integration.

The goal is to disseminate psychiatric and mental health research as widely as possible.

Creative Commons License: CC BY 4.0

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

  • Commercial and non-commercial reuse
  • Adaptation and remixing
  • Translation
  • Unlimited distribution

With only one requirement:

Proper attribution must be given to the authors and the journal.

This is the most widely recognized open-access license and is accepted by all major research funders.

Why APMH Uses CC BY 4.0

  • Supports global knowledge sharing.
  • Complies with Plan S and other funder mandates.
  • Maximizes citation visibility and impact.
  • Protects author rights while encouraging innovation.

Reader Rights Under Open Access

  • Download articles without registration.
  • Print or share full texts freely.
  • Use content in educational materials or clinical presentations.
  • Translate articles into local languages for better accessibility.
  • Conduct text mining or systematic analysis.

Readers may use APMH articles without seeking permission from the authors or publisher.

Author Rights and Open Access Benefits

Authors retain full copyright and benefit from:

  • Permanent availability of their work.
  • Higher potential citation rates.
  • Global visibility without barriers.
  • Freedom to reuse their own published content.
  • Compliance with institutional and funder mandates.

Self-Archiving and Repository Policy

APMH embraces a liberal self-archiving (Green Open Access) policy. Authors may deposit:

  • Submitted manuscript versions (preprints)
  • Accepted versions (postprints)
  • The final published version (Version of Record)

Deposits may be made in:

  • Institutional repositories
  • Subject repositories (e.g., PsyArXiv)
  • Personal ORCID or researcher profile pages
  • Personal or departmental websites

No embargo period applies.

How APMH Supports Open Science

  • Provides machine-readable metadata for indexing systems.
  • Issues DOIs for all published content via Crossref.
  • Supports OAI-PMH harvesting for repository integration.
  • Encourages authors to publish datasets and protocols openly.
  • Supports transparent peer-review values (while keeping double-blind confidentiality).

Funder and Institutional Compliance

APMH meets the open-access requirements of major funding bodies, including:

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • European Commission (Horizon Europe)
  • UKRI / Wellcome Trust
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • cOAlition S (Plan S)

Our CC BY 4.0 licensing and archiving structure ensures seamless compliance.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

To sustain open-access publishing, APMH applies Article Processing Charges. These fees support:

  • Editorial and peer-review management
  • Digital preservation systems
  • Crossref DOI registration
  • Platform maintenance and upgrades
  • Content hosting and analytics

APCs do not influence editorial decisions. APMH provides waivers for authors with financial limitations.

Long-term Digital Preservation

APMH ensures permanent access through:

  • LOCKSS/CLOCKSS-compatible repository structures
  • OAI-PMH metadata availability
  • Regular backups and redundancy
  • Persistent DOIs for article stability

Open Access and Ethical Publishing

APMH ensures that open access is coupled with responsible and ethical publishing:

  • Plagiarism checks using leading tools
  • Strict COPE-compliant procedures
  • Transparent licensing declarations
  • Author-centered copyright retention
  • Clear conflict-of-interest disclosures

Open access strengthens—not compromises—ethical standards.

Real-World Scenario

Scenario: A nonprofit mental health organization in South Africa is training rural health workers. They discover an APMH article on adolescent depression and freely incorporate figures, recommendations, and diagrams into their workshop materials. Because the work is licensed under CC BY 4.0, they may reuse, translate, and distribute content without requesting permission, provided proper attribution is included. This enables community programs to access world-class research at no cost.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Do readers pay for any content?
No. All content is fully open access.
Q: Does APMH allow commercial reuse?
Yes. CC BY 4.0 permits commercial adaptation with attribution.
Q: Can authors archive their articles elsewhere?
Yes. Authors may archive any version immediately.
Q: How does open access affect citations?
Studies show that open-access articles typically receive more citations due to increased visibility.
Q: Are APC waivers available?
Yes, for authors with demonstrated financial need.

Conclusion

The Open Access Policy of APMH ensures that psychiatric and mental health research—especially concerning vulnerable populations such as children, adolescents, and marginalized groups—remains publicly accessible, reusable, and preserved indefinitely. By combining author rights, global licensing standards, repository availability, and ethical publishing principles, APMH advances the mission of equitable scientific knowledge dissemination worldwide.