1. Digital Preservation Strategy

Health Nexus maintains a digital preservation strategy intended to reduce the risks of accidental deletion, file corruption, technical failure, cybersecurity incidents, platform migration difficulties, and interruption or discontinuation of publishing operations.

The principal objectives of the strategy are:

• Content Integrity: Protect the authenticity and reliability of published article files and associated scholarly records.
• Long-Term Accessibility: Support the continued availability of scholarly content beyond the normal operating life of the publishing platform.
• Distributed Preservation: Reduce dependence on a single hosting environment through participation in external preservation networks.
• Authenticity and Version Control: Preserve the relationship between published articles, their authoritative versions, and subsequent corrections or retractions.
• Interoperability: Support recognized file formats, bibliographic metadata standards, persistent identifiers, and appropriate preservation interfaces.
• Publishing Continuity: Maintain appropriate arrangements for recovery, transfer, or continued access to published records if the journal's normal infrastructure becomes unavailable.

1.1 Scope of Preserved Scholarly Content

The journal's preservation framework addresses, where supported by the relevant preservation service and applicable rights:

• Final published article files, including PDF and HTML versions where available.
• Article titles, abstracts, keywords, authorship information, and affiliations.
• DOIs, publication dates, volume and issue information, and citation metadata.
• Copyright statements, open-access licences, and relevant rights notices.
• Figures, tables, appendices, and published supplementary materials.
• Data Availability Statements, funding declarations, and other published research information.
• Corrections, retraction notices, expressions of concern, and other post-publication notices.
• Relevant version information and relationships among scholarly records.

The scope of preserved content may differ among preservation providers. Confidential reviewer reports, internal editorial correspondence, unpublished submissions, restricted patient information, and other protected records are not made publicly accessible through these arrangements.

1.2 Participating Digital Preservation Services

Health Nexus has joined the following digital preservation services:

1.3 Preservation Participation and Archival Coverage

LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and PKP PN use related preservation technologies but operate under distinct organizational and technical arrangements. Their participation status should not be interpreted as proof that every published article is independently stored in three fully synchronized archives.

2. Persistent Identifiers

Health Nexus supports the use of persistent identifiers to maintain reliable scholarly citation, article identification, bibliographic linking, and long-term discoverability.

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) provide persistent identification for registered scholarly content. DOI records remain associated with the identified publication when its location changes, provided that the responsible registration metadata and resolution information are maintained.

2.1 DOI Registration and Maintenance

• Published articles should be assigned DOIs through appropriate registration agencies where supported.
• DOI records should contain accurate bibliographic information and resolve to the official article landing page.
• DOI resolution URLs must be updated when official article locations change.
• Article corrections, retractions, and relevant publication relationships should be reflected in metadata where technically supported.
• Existing DOI identifiers should be preserved during platform migrations or publisher infrastructure changes.

2.2 Persistent Identification and Preservation

DOI registration and digital preservation perform different functions. DOIs support persistent identification and citation, while LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, PKP PN, and other preservation arrangements address the retention and integrity of scholarly content.

The journal seeks to maintain accurate DOI metadata and appropriate relationships between official article records and preserved copies. DOI registration alone does not guarantee permanent availability of article files.

3. Version of Record

Health Nexus recognizes the formally published Version of Record (VoR) as the authoritative and citable version of each article.

The Version of Record includes the published scholarly content and its associated bibliographic, copyright, licensing, and publication information.

3.1 Integrity of the Published Record

• Published articles must be identifiable through their official journal records and relevant persistent identifiers.
• Material post-publication changes must be appropriately evaluated and documented.
• Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern must be clearly connected to the affected article.
• Readers must not be misled about the publication status or reliability of scholarly content.
• Superseded versions retained by the journal should be distinguishable from the current authoritative record.

3.2 Corrections and Retractions

Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are managed under the journal's Publication Ethics Policy. Relevant notices should remain accessible and linked to the affected article.

Retraction ordinarily does not require deletion of the original publication. An affected article should remain identifiable with its status clearly indicated, except where exceptional legal, privacy, safety, or comparable circumstances require removal.

3.3 Version Control and Archival Updates

Where multiple versions or post-publication notices are retained, their relationships should be appropriately documented. The journal seeks to ensure that relevant updates are reflected in the official publication record and communicated to preservation services through applicable procedures. Technical file replacement must not be used to conceal substantive changes or research integrity concerns.

4. Repository Policy

Health Nexus supports author self-archiving and the lawful dissemination of published scholarly content through institutional, disciplinary, and other appropriate research repositories.

Authors may deposit authorized versions of their work in:

• Institutional Repositories: University, hospital, and research institute repositories.
• Subject Repositories: Recognized disciplinary or specialist scholarly repositories.
• Funder-Designated Repositories: Appropriate research dissemination systems designated by funding organizations.
• Academic Websites: Personal scholarly websites, institutional profiles, and other lawful academic communication platforms.

Repository dissemination supplements the journal's participation in LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and PKP PN. Author self-archiving contributes to accessibility but does not automatically establish verified journal-wide archival coverage.

5. Website and Platform Preservation

Health Nexus maintains an online publishing platform for the management and dissemination of its scholarly content. Responsible infrastructure maintenance complements the journal's participation in independent digital preservation services.

5.1 Operational Protection

The publisher's technical preservation and recovery framework addresses:

• Published Files: Appropriate storage and retention of article files and related publication materials.
• Database Integrity: Protection of journal, article, issue, and bibliographic records against unintended corruption or loss.
• Backup and Recovery: Operational backup and restoration measures for relevant files and databases.
• System Maintenance: Appropriate maintenance, security updates, access controls, and technical monitoring.
• Integrity Verification: Procedures for identifying incomplete, corrupted, or inaccessible publication files and records.

5.2 Operational Backups and External Preservation

Operational backups primarily support service recovery following technical incidents. They do not necessarily guarantee independent or permanent public access if the publisher's infrastructure becomes unavailable.

Participation in LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and PKP PN forms part of the journal's broader preservation strategy beyond ordinary server backups. The actual protection afforded to specific content is determined by the applicable service arrangements and verified archival coverage.

5.3 Platform Migration and Continuity

During platform migrations or changes in hosting infrastructure, reasonable measures should be taken to preserve published article files, metadata, persistent identifiers, copyright and licensing information, and post-publication notices.

Existing article URLs should be preserved where possible or supported through appropriate redirects. DOI resolution records and relevant preservation-service configurations should be reviewed when official publication locations change.

6. Metadata and Indexing Support

Health Nexus maintains structured bibliographic and publication metadata to support scholarly discovery, citation, interoperability, and preservation.

Relevant metadata includes:

• Journal title, ISSN, volume, issue, and publication date.
• Article title, abstract, keywords, and article type.
• Author names, affiliations, and ORCID identifiers where available.
• DOI, official article URL, and other relevant persistent identifiers.
• References and related citation information.
• Copyright holder, publisher attribution, and open-access licence.
• Funding, competing interests, and data availability information where applicable.
• Correction, retraction, and other publication-status relationships.

6.1 Machine-Readable Metadata

The journal supports the dissemination of appropriate machine-readable metadata through its publishing infrastructure, including OAI-PMH and DOI-registration mechanisms where configured.

Metadata exports should identify published records accurately and maintain appropriate links to journal sections, article landing pages, DOI records, and associated publication information.

6.2 Indexing and Preservation

Bibliographic indexing and scholarly discovery services are distinct from full-text digital preservation. Inclusion in a discovery database does not by itself demonstrate that an independent archival copy of an article has been retained.

The journal's participation in LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and PKP PN is intended to complement its bibliographic dissemination and indexing activities through dedicated preservation arrangements.

6.3 Metadata Quality and Maintenance

The journal seeks to correct material metadata errors, maintain reliable DOI resolution links, and ensure that official publication records reflect relevant corrections, retractions, and article updates. Material changes to publication locations, hosting infrastructure, or archival arrangements should be reflected in the relevant records where appropriate.

7. Publisher Responsibilities

Panorama Scholarly Group (PSG), as the publisher of Health Nexus, is responsible for supporting the journal's preservation infrastructure and coordinating appropriate measures for the continued accessibility and integrity of published scholarly content.

The publisher's responsibilities include:

• Preservation Service Participation: Maintaining the journal's relevant participation arrangements with LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and PKP PN.
• Archival Deposit Coordination: Supporting appropriate content transfer, harvesting, deposit, and synchronization procedures.
• Preservation Status Monitoring: Reviewing available service records and identifying pending, incomplete, failed, or otherwise unverified archival deposits.
• Publishing Infrastructure: Maintaining appropriate systems for online dissemination, file storage, operational backup, and technical recovery.
• Persistent Identifier Maintenance: Supporting accurate DOI registration metadata, article landing pages, and publication links.
• Scholarly Record Integrity: Cooperating with authorized editors to maintain corrections, retractions, and other post-publication records.
• Rights and Licensing Compliance: Respecting copyright ownership, open-access licensing conditions, third-party rights, and applicable confidentiality restrictions.
• Public Transparency: Maintaining accurate public descriptions of preservation participation and avoiding unsupported statements about the archival coverage of specific content.

7.1 Preservation Monitoring and Verification

The journal's participation in LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and PKP PN is subject to ongoing technical and administrative oversight. The publisher should review available evidence of preservation coverage, including:

• Preservation-service participation or publisher records.
• Content harvesting and deposit confirmations.
• PKP PN issue-level deposit and synchronization status.
• Available archival manifests or provider reports.
• The volumes, issues, and article files covered by confirmed deposits.
• Technical errors, incomplete transfers, or deposits requiring further action.

Successful participation in a preservation service does not automatically establish complete coverage of every issue or article. Where archival coverage has been verified, the journal may disclose the relevant provider, covered content, and confirmation information. Unverified or incomplete deposits must not be represented as successfully preserved material.

8. Compliance with International Standards

Health Nexus seeks to maintain preservation practices consistent with internationally recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing, long-term accessibility, transparency, and reliable digital record management.

Relevant preservation services, frameworks, and guidance include:

• LOCKSS: Distributed preservation technology and network arrangements supporting the retention and integrity of scholarly digital content.
• CLOCKSS: Community-governed distributed digital preservation and controlled archival access arrangements for scholarly content.
• PKP Preservation Network: LOCKSS-based preservation infrastructure supporting eligible journals published using Open Journal Systems.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): Guidance concerning transparent preservation policies, recognized long-term preservation practices, persistent identifiers, and author self-archiving.
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): Principles relating to publication transparency, the correction of the scholarly record, editorial accountability, and post-publication integrity.
• Persistent Identifier Infrastructure: DOI-registration and metadata-maintenance practices supporting reliable citation, discovery, and identification of scholarly publications.
• Open-Access Licensing: Preservation and redistribution practices consistent with applicable Creative Commons licences and relevant third-party rights.

Health Nexus distinguishes its participation in named digital preservation services from formal certification, indexing, endorsement, or specific archival coverage. Any claims concerning completed preservation are subject to the relevant service records and verification procedures.

This policy should be read together with the journal's Open Access Policy, Copyright & Licensing Policy, Publication Ethics Policy, and Data Policy.