1. Open Access Statement

Health Nexus provides immediate and free access to its published scholarly articles. Readers are not required to purchase subscriptions, pay access fees, or obtain individual permission merely to read published content.

Subject to the applicable open-access licence and any clearly identified third-party rights, users may:

• Read and Download: Access, read, download, and print published articles without subscription fees.
• Share and Distribute: Copy and redistribute licensed articles in digital or printed formats, subject to the applicable attribution requirements.
• Search and Link: Search article content, cite published research, and link to official article pages and persistent identifiers.
• Reuse and Adapt: Translate, adapt, summarize, or incorporate licensed material into new works, including commercial and non-commercial activities, where permitted by the applicable licence.
• Text and Data Mining: Conduct lawful text and data mining, computational analysis, and scholarly indexing of licensed materials, subject to relevant legal, privacy, security, and technical requirements.
• Repository Dissemination: Preserve and distribute authorized article copies through institutional, subject-specific, and other appropriate scholarly repositories.

Through these arrangements, Health Nexus seeks to improve access to medical scholarship, facilitate international knowledge exchange, and support researchers, clinicians, educators, students, policymakers, and readers across different geographic and institutional settings.

2. Licensing Policy

Unless otherwise specified in an individual article's rights statement, scholarly articles published in Health Nexus are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).

2.1 Permitted Uses

• Copy, download, print, and redistribute the licensed work.
• Translate, adapt, remix, transform, or build upon the licensed material.
• Use the work for educational, academic, professional, policy, or commercial purposes.
• Include appropriately attributed content in research reviews, educational materials, and other lawful publications.
• Archive, index, and analyze licensed content through appropriate scholarly infrastructures.

2.2 Attribution Requirements

Users reusing licensed content must provide appropriate attribution in accordance with CC BY 4.0. Where reasonably practicable, attribution should identify:

• The original author or authors.
• The article title and journal name.
• The original source, preferably including its DOI or permanent article link.
• The applicable CC BY 4.0 licence and a link to its terms.
• An indication of any translation, adaptation, modification, or other changes made.

Attribution must not suggest that the original authors, Health Nexus, or Panorama Scholarly Group endorse a particular reuse, adaptation, product, interpretation, or organization.

2.3 Third-Party Materials and Other Rights

The article's Creative Commons licence applies only to material that the relevant rights holder is authorized to license. Figures, tables, clinical images, photographs, instruments, datasets, or other third-party materials may be excluded from the article's licence through an appropriate credit line or rights statement.

Users must obtain any additional permissions required for material that is not covered by CC BY 4.0, unless the intended use is otherwise permitted by law. The Creative Commons licence does not override applicable patient confidentiality, privacy, personality, patent, trademark, or other independent legal rights.

2.4 Licence Continuity

Reuse permissions granted under an applicable CC BY 4.0 licence remain available while users comply with its terms. Changes to the journal's future publication or charging policies do not ordinarily withdraw permissions already granted for published licensed material.

3. Author Rights

Health Nexus supports author ownership and the broad dissemination of scholarly work. Authors ordinarily retain copyright in their original articles, subject to any applicable institutional, employment, contractual, or other lawful rights arrangements.

Under the journal's standard publishing arrangements:

• Copyright Retention: Authors retain copyright ownership of their original scholarly contributions unless a different lawful ownership arrangement applies.
• Non-Exclusive Publication Rights: Authors grant Panorama Scholarly Group the non-exclusive rights necessary to publish, reproduce, distribute, communicate, and preserve the article as part of the journal's scholarly record.
• Reuse in Future Work: Authors may reuse their published work in future research, books, teaching materials, and other publications, subject to appropriate acknowledgement and applicable third-party rights.
• Repository Deposit: Authors may deposit the Version of Record in institutional or subject repositories without an embargo under the journal's policy.
• Academic Sharing: Authors may share authorized copies through academic websites, professional profiles, and scholarly communication platforms consistent with the published licence.
• Author Attribution: Authors are entitled to appropriate acknowledgement of their intellectual contributions and the applicable copyright and licensing information.

Authors are responsible for confirming that they have the authority to grant the rights required for publication. Full details are available in the journal's Copyright & Licensing Policy.

4. Article Processing Charges (APC)

Health Nexus has operated under a Diamond Open Access model, providing free access to readers and publishing eligible manuscripts without article processing charges. The journal has announced a transition to an APC-supported publishing model beginning in 2027, subject to its published transitional provisions.

4.1 APC Waivers and Discounts

Full or partial APC waivers may be available under the journal's published eligibility criteria. Authors should consult the applicable fee policy for information on waiver categories, application requirements, and the timing of requests.

4.2 Fees for Optional Administrative Services

The journal's APC policy separately identifies charges that may apply to certain approved, author-requested administrative services after acceptance or publication. Such charges are distinct from APCs and must be disclosed before the relevant service is undertaken. No administrative fee is charged for corrections necessary to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record, editorial assessments, peer review, complaints, or appeals.

For the current fee schedule, waiver provisions, invoicing conditions, and transitional arrangements, consult the APC & Waiver Policy and the 2027 Publishing Model Transition Announcement.

5. Archiving and Long-Term Preservation

Health Nexus recognizes long-term digital preservation as an essential component of responsible open-access publishing. The journal seeks to maintain the accessibility, integrity, discoverability, and continuity of its published scholarly record.

5.1 Digital Preservation Strategy

The journal's preservation strategy includes the following elements:

• Publishing Platform: Maintenance of published article files and associated bibliographic records through the journal's official publishing infrastructure.
• Backup and Recovery: Technical measures designed to protect publishing files and associated metadata against avoidable loss or system failure.
• Metadata Preservation: Maintenance of author information, article titles, abstracts, keywords, publication dates, identifiers, and related bibliographic records.
• Repository Dissemination: Support for lawful deposit of published articles in external scholarly repositories, increasing the availability of authorized copies.
• Preservation Infrastructure: Consideration of recognized third-party digital preservation services and participation arrangements as they become operational.

5.2 Recognized Preservation Services

Recognized scholarly preservation infrastructures include LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and Portico. These services offer different models for the preservation and continued accessibility of scholarly publications.

Reference to these services does not constitute a claim of current membership, active participation, or confirmed preservation coverage. Health Nexus will identify specific third-party preservation arrangements as operational services once their implementation and coverage can be verified.

5.3 Persistent Identifiers

Health Nexus supports the use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) and structured article metadata to facilitate reliable citation, reference linking, indexing, and scholarly discovery. Published articles are identified through their official article records and registered identifiers where assigned.

Persistent identifiers support stable reference linking but do not, by themselves, constitute an independent digital preservation service. Long-term preservation requires appropriate file retention, infrastructure management, and preservation arrangements.

5.4 Version of Record and Post-Publication Notices

The journal maintains an identifiable Version of Record for each formally published article. Corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, and other post-publication notices should be appropriately documented and linked to the affected publication, in accordance with the journal's publication ethics policies.

Additional information is provided in the Archiving & Preservation Policy.

6. Repository and Self-Archiving Policy

Health Nexus supports author self-archiving and the dissemination of published scholarship through appropriate institutional, disciplinary, and academic repositories.

Authors may share or deposit authorized copies of their work through:

• Institutional Repositories: University, hospital, research institute, and other institutional scholarly repositories.
• Subject Repositories: Discipline-specific and recognized research dissemination platforms.
• Personal Academic Websites: Authors' institutional profiles, professional websites, and scholarly communication pages.
• Other Permitted Scholarly Platforms: Appropriate non-commercial or commercial repositories and services that comply with the applicable article licence and relevant rights.

Authors may also retain and share their original manuscripts or accepted manuscript versions where they have the necessary rights. Such versions should be clearly identified to avoid confusion with the final Version of Record.

Self-archiving must not disclose confidential peer review information, identifiable patient data, or materials subject to legal or contractual restrictions. Any repository-specific deposit requirements must also be respected.

7. Compliance with Open Access Standards

Health Nexus seeks to align its open-access publishing practices with internationally recognized principles of accessibility, transparency, responsible licensing, research integrity, and long-term scholarly dissemination.

Relevant frameworks and guidance include:

• Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI): Principles supporting free online access and lawful reuse of scholarly research.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): Standards and transparency criteria relevant to responsible open-access journal publishing, including licensing, fees, editorial procedures, and publication information.
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): Guidance concerning publication ethics, editorial responsibilities, research integrity, corrections, and the preservation of the scholarly record.
• Creative Commons: Standardized open licensing arrangements that define the permissions and conditions governing lawful reuse of published material.

Reference to these organizations and frameworks indicates the standards informing the journal's policies. It does not, by itself, establish formal membership, certification, inclusion in a database, or endorsement by any named organization.

The journal is committed to maintaining clear and publicly accessible information about its open-access licence, authors' rights, publication charges, self-archiving, editorial policies, and preservation arrangements. These policies may be reviewed and updated as publishing standards, technologies, legal requirements, and institutional arrangements evolve.