OAPA Publishing Policy

Open Access Publishing Association (OAPA) supports diamond open access journals that are free to both authors and readers. The following principles reflect our commitment to ethical, robust, and sustainable scholarly publishing:

1. Diamond Open Access Commitment
   All publications are freely accessible to readers and do not charge authors any article processing charges.
2. Rigorous Peer Review
   Manuscripts should undergo a transparent, double-blind peer review process to ensure scholarly integrity and quality; and where they do not their review and acceptance process must be transparently articulated.
3. Editorial Transparency
   Journal editors and owners set and transparently publish their own editorial policies consistent with the Committee of Publishing Ethics advice, their own strategy, their Publishing Agreement, and this OAPA Policy.
4. Ethical Publishing
   Journal editors must ensure published content adheres to ethical guidelines, including those from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), to uphold research integrity; with a preference for Institutional Review Board approval.
5. Author Rights
   Authors retain copyright of their work, which is published under open licenses (e.g., Creative Commons).

Version 1.0 – Approved by OAPA President, 9 November 2024. This policy is approved by the OAPA Board.