AGROECOLOGY EPrints Repository Policy

Copyright, Licensing and Access Policy

Agroecology Eprints is committed to promoting open access to agroecology research and innovation outputs while respecting copyright, licensing, publisher policies, and other legal requirements. In many cases, authors retain copyright in their work. However, for some scholarly publications—particularly peer-reviewed journal articles—certain rights may be transferred or licensed to a publisher as part of the publication process. The rights retained by authors therefore depend on the terms of the relevant publication agreement.

Many publishers permit authors to self-archive specific versions of their publications in open-access repositories such as Agroecology Eprints. Depending on publisher policies, this may include preprints, accepted manuscripts, or, in some cases, the final published version. Authors are responsible for ensuring that any material deposited in Agroecology Eprints complies with applicable copyright agreements, publisher policies, licence conditions, and embargo requirements.

Where copyright restrictions apply, authors may choose to limit access to the full text of a document or deposit only a version that is permitted for self-archiving. Authors are also encouraged, where possible, to apply appropriate open licences, such as Creative Commons licences, to clarify how their work may be reused.

By supporting both open and restricted access options, Agroecology Eprints seeks to maximise the visibility, accessibility, and impact of research outputs while ensuring compliance with copyright and licensing requirements.

For detailed information, please consult the full Copyright, Licensing and Access Policy.

Agroecology Eprints Repository Policy

purpose and scope
Agroecology Eprints (AEPrints) is an international open-access repository that provides permanent access to research and innovation outputs related to agroecology. The repository aims to facilitate communication and knowledge exchange within the agroecology community, increase the visibility and impact of research findings, and document agroecological research activities worldwide.

AEPrints supports the principles of Open Science and promotes the widest possible dissemination of knowledge while respecting copyright, licensing, ethical, and legal requirements.

Submission Policy

AEPrints accepts a wide range of research and innovation outputs relevant to agroecology. These include:
  • journal articles, preprints, postprints, and published papers;
  • conference papers, posters, and presentations;
  • theses and dissertations;
  • reports, policy briefs, and technical documents;
  • books and book chapters;
  • magazine and newsletter articles;
  • audiovisual materials;
  • web-based resources and educational materials;
  • project descriptions;
  • Living Lab descriptions;
  • Research Infrastructure descriptions; and
  • other published or unpublished materials relevant to agroecology.

Acceptance Criteria

Submissions are accepted provided that they:
  • are relevant to agroecology research, innovation, education, policy, or practice;
  • represent a completed work intended for dissemination;
  • are accompanied by accurate and sufficient metadata;
  • comply with applicable copyright, licensing, and legal requirements; and
  • do not violate ethical standards or the rights of third parties.
AEPrints supports submissions in all languages. To enhance international discoverability, contributors are strongly encouraged to provide an English title, abstract, and keywords whenever the original language is not English.

Full Text and Supporting Materials

The submission of a full-text document is strongly encouraged but is not mandatory in all cases. Where copyright restrictions or publisher policies prevent full-text deposit, bibliographic information may still be submitted.

For books and other extensive publications, contributors are encouraged, where possible, to provide supplementary materials such as introductions, executive summaries, sample chapters, or links to the publisher's website.

Versioning and Preservation

AEPrints is intended to provide a stable and persistent record of agroecology research outputs.

Contributors are encouraged to upload revised versions rather than replacing or removing existing records. Where multiple versions exist, the repository will indicate the most recent version while preserving earlier versions where appropriate.

AEPrints may undertake technical actions necessary for long-term preservation, including file migration and format conversion, provided that the intellectual content of deposited materials is not altered.

Removal Policy

The removal of deposited items is discouraged because it may invalidate citations, identifiers, and external links.

AEPrints reserves the right to edit metadata, reject submissions, or remove items that:
  • fall outside the scope of the repository;
  • contain substantially inaccurate metadata;
  • infringe copyright or other legal rights;
  • violate repository policies;
  • are subject to legal, ethical, or regulatory concerns; or
  • pose risks to repository integrity or users.
Where possible, withdrawn records will remain visible with an explanation for the withdrawal.

Deposit Agreement

By depositing an item (including associated files and metadata) in Agroecology Eprints, the depositor agrees that:
  1. Agroecology Eprints receives a non-exclusive right to store, preserve, reproduce, and make the deposited material available online in accordance with the access conditions selected by the depositor.
  2. The depositor retains copyright and other intellectual property rights unless these have been assigned elsewhere.
  3. The depositor has the necessary rights and permissions to deposit the material and make it available through the repository.
  4. Where the depositor is acting on behalf of another person or organisation, the depositor has obtained the necessary permissions to do so.
  5. Agroecology Eprints accepts no responsibility for any infringement of copyright or other rights arising from deposited materials.
By completing the deposit process, the depositor confirms acceptance of these terms.

Metadata Policy

Metadata describing items in AEPrints are openly accessible and may be harvested, indexed, and reused by third-party services for discovery, citation, research assessment, and scholarly communication purposes.

Where technically supported, metadata may be exposed through standard interoperability protocols, including the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH).

Users reusing metadata are encouraged to acknowledge AEPrints as the source and to link to the relevant repository record whenever possible.

Metadata may be harvested, indexed, and reused for both non-commercial and commercial scholarly purposes, subject to applicable attribution requirements. Agroecology Eprints supports the widest possible reuse of metadata and encourages alignment with open metadata practices, including the use of CC0 where appropriate and legally feasible.

Disclaimer

The content and metadata available through AEPrints are supplied by authors, depositors, and contributors.

While repository administrators and editors make reasonable efforts to maintain the quality and accuracy of repository records, no guarantee is given regarding the completeness, accuracy, reliability, or suitability of any information contained in the repository.

The organisations responsible for the operation of AEPrints, including the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS), as well as repository staff, editors, and contributors, accept no liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of repository content.

Links to external websites are provided for information purposes only. The inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement of the content, products, services, or organisations associated with that site.
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