Copyright and Licensing | Food Systems, Safety & Sustainability

Food Systems, Safety & Sustainability (FSSS) is a fully open-access journal published by Panorama Scholarly Group.

Authors retain copyright in their articles. Unless a specific item is expressly identified as subject to different terms, articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).

Under CC BY 4.0, users may copy, redistribute, reproduce, communicate, translate, adapt, transform, and build upon the licensed material for any purpose, including commercial purposes, provided that the licence conditions are followed.

Copyright: © The Author(s)

Publisher: Panorama Scholarly Group

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Author rights: Authors retain copyright and may reuse and deposit their work without an embargo.

Public reuse: Reuse, adaptation, translation, and commercial use are permitted subject to attribution and the other conditions of CC BY 4.0.

1. Copyright Ownership

The journal does not require authors to transfer copyright to Panorama Scholarly Group as a condition of publication.

The copyright notice for a standard article should normally appear as:

© [Year] The Author(s). Published by Panorama Scholarly Group.

Where copyright is owned legally by an employer, institution, government, company, estate, or another rights holder, the article must identify the correct copyright holder.

Authors are responsible for determining whether:

their employment agreement assigns copyright to an employer;
the work was created under a commissioned-work arrangement;
a government or institutional policy affects copyright ownership;
a funder requires a particular copyright or licensing arrangement;
another person or organisation owns rights in part of the manuscript; or
the work contains public-domain or separately licensed material.

2. Authors Retain Copyright

Retention of copyright means that authors continue to hold the copyright in their original article, subject to:

the non-exclusive publishing rights granted to Panorama Scholarly Group;
the CC BY 4.0 licence granted to the public;
rights held by third parties;
applicable law;
the author’s institutional or employment obligations; and
any separate lawful agreement disclosed to and approved by the journal.

Authors may reuse their article in later scholarly and professional work without obtaining additional permission from the journal, provided that the original publication is acknowledged and any applicable third-party restrictions are respected.

3. Licence Granted to the Publisher

By agreeing to publication, the author grants Panorama Scholarly Group a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to:

publish the article as the Version of Record;
identify FSSS as the journal of first publication;
reproduce and distribute the article in electronic, print, and other formats;
edit, format, typeset, convert, and prepare the article for publication without altering its substantive meaning improperly;
create HTML, PDF, XML, EPUB, accessible, machine-readable, and preservation versions;
register and maintain article metadata and persistent identifiers;
deposit and distribute metadata and full text through indexing, abstracting, archiving, discovery, and preservation services;
preserve the article through current and future digital-preservation systems;
include the article in journal issues, collections, databases, catalogues, and archives;
promote the article and journal using bibliographic information and reasonable excerpts;
publish corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, and other updates where required;
authorise service providers to perform functions necessary for publication and preservation; and
exercise other non-exclusive rights reasonably necessary to publish and maintain the scholarly record.

This licence does not transfer copyright ownership to Panorama Scholarly Group.

4. Right of First Publication

Authors grant FSSS and Panorama Scholarly Group the right to publish the accepted article first as the official Version of Record.

Authors must not grant another journal or publisher an exclusive right that conflicts with publication in FSSS.

After publication, authors and third parties may redistribute the article under CC BY 4.0, provided that the original FSSS publication is cited and the licence conditions are followed.

5. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Unless otherwise stated, the Version of Record is licensed under:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The complete legal terms are available at:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Legal Code

The licence applies worldwide for the duration of applicable copyright and similar rights, subject to its terms.

6. Rights Granted to the Public

CC BY 4.0 permits users to:

read and download the article without charge;
copy and redistribute the article;
include the article in repositories, databases, reading lists, and course materials;
print and distribute copies;
translate the article;
adapt, abridge, annotate, or transform the material;
combine the material with other works;
reuse figures, tables, and text covered by the licence;
perform text and data mining where permitted by the licence and applicable law;
use the material for teaching, research, policy, professional, and commercial purposes; and
share adapted versions in any medium or format.

No separate permission or licence fee is required for a use that complies fully with CC BY 4.0 and does not involve material excluded from the licence.

7. Attribution Requirements

A person reusing an article or part of an article must provide appropriate attribution.

Attribution should include, where reasonably practicable:

the name of the author or authors;
the article title;
the journal title;
the year of publication;
the article DOI or stable publication link;
a statement that the work is licensed under CC BY 4.0;
a link to the CC BY 4.0 licence;
an indication of whether changes were made; and
any copyright or attribution notice supplied with the article.

Recommended attribution:

[Author name(s)], “[Article title],” Food Systems, Safety & Sustainability, [year], [DOI]. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Changes were made to the original material.

Where no changes were made, the final sentence may be omitted or replaced with:

No changes were made.

8. Indication of Changes

Users who modify, translate, abridge, annotate, rearrange, or otherwise adapt the licensed material must indicate that changes were made.

The indication should be sufficiently clear to prevent the adapted material from being mistaken for the original Version of Record.

Depending on the use, an appropriate statement may include:

“Translated from the original article.”
“Adapted from the original figure.”
“This version has been abridged.”
“The layout and terminology have been modified.”
“Data labels were translated and reformatted.”
“This is an independently prepared adaptation and not the Version of Record.”

Users should retain an indication of previous modifications where required by the licence.

9. No Implied Endorsement

Reuse must not imply that the authors, editors, FSSS, or Panorama Scholarly Group endorse:

the person or organisation reusing the material;
an adapted or translated version;
a commercial product or service;
a political, institutional, regulatory, or advocacy position;
an advertisement or promotional claim;
a particular interpretation of the research; or
another use not expressly endorsed in writing.

Journal, publisher, institutional, and author names must not be presented in a way that creates a false impression of sponsorship, approval, certification, or partnership.

10. Commercial Reuse

CC BY 4.0 permits commercial as well as non-commercial reuse.

Commercial users may reproduce or adapt licensed material without obtaining separate permission, provided that:

all licence conditions are satisfied;
appropriate attribution is provided;
changes are identified;
no endorsement is implied;
third-party rights are respected;
privacy, publicity, confidentiality, trademark, and other applicable rights are respected; and
no additional legal or technological restriction prevents recipients from exercising the rights granted by the licence.

Commercial reuse does not permit misleading advertising, false endorsement, plagiarism, misrepresentation of findings, or infringement of rights not covered by CC BY 4.0.

11. Open Access Does Not Mean Public Domain

Publication under CC BY 4.0 does not place an article in the public domain.

The copyright holder retains copyright, while granting broad permissions to the public under specified conditions.

Users must continue to:

attribute the authors;
identify the licence;
indicate changes;
respect excluded third-party material;
avoid false endorsement; and
comply with rights and obligations not covered by the licence.

12. Open Licensing Does Not Permit Plagiarism

CC BY 4.0 permits legal reuse but does not eliminate scholarly attribution requirements.

Users must not:

present licensed text or ideas as their own original work;
remove author attribution;
conceal the source of reused material;
republish an article under different authorship;
use an adaptation to misrepresent the authors’ conclusions;
submit reused material as a new scholarly publication without appropriate disclosure; or
engage in another practice constituting plagiarism or research misconduct.

Compliance with copyright law and compliance with academic-integrity standards are related but distinct obligations.

13. Author Reuse

Authors may reuse their published article in:

a thesis or dissertation;
a later book or book chapter;
a review or follow-up article;
conference or teaching materials;
institutional reports;
policy documents;
professional portfolios;
grant applications;
personal or institutional websites;
research repositories;
commercial and non-commercial scholarly compilations; and
other lawful works.

Authors should cite the FSSS Version of Record, include its DOI, identify the CC BY 4.0 licence, and indicate where the reused material has been modified.

Reuse must not conceal duplicate or redundant publication. Substantial republication as a new scholarly work requires transparent disclosure and legitimate scholarly justification.

14. Self-Archiving

FSSS permits authors to deposit and share:

the submitted manuscript;
the accepted manuscript;
the proof version, subject to any confidential production instructions; and
the final Version of Record.

Authors may deposit these versions in:

institutional repositories;
disciplinary repositories;
funder repositories;
personal websites;
institutional profile pages;
non-commercial scholarly networks;
thesis and dissertation repositories; and
other lawful preservation or dissemination services.

No publication embargo is imposed on the Version of Record.

Deposited copies should include:

the complete article citation;
the DOI link to the Version of Record;
the applicable copyright notice;
the CC BY 4.0 licence statement; and
an identification of the manuscript version.

15. Preprints

Authors may post a manuscript on a recognised preprint server before submission or publication, subject to the journal’s Publication Ethics and prior-dissemination policies.

Authors should:

disclose the preprint during submission;
provide the preprint identifier or link;
avoid assigning rights that conflict with publication in FSSS;
update the preprint record after publication;
add the complete FSSS citation and DOI; and
identify the final journal article as the Version of Record.

The licence applied independently to a preprint may differ from the licence applied to the FSSS Version of Record. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the licensing arrangements are compatible.

16. Theses, Dissertations, and Institutional Manuscripts

Material previously included in a thesis or dissertation may normally be submitted to FSSS where:

the thesis is disclosed;
the author possesses the necessary rights;
the submitted article provides an appropriate scholarly presentation;
previously published third-party material is identified;
the thesis repository licence does not prevent publication;
the thesis is cited where appropriate; and
the manuscript is not misrepresented as entirely unpublished where relevant prior dissemination occurred.

After publication, the article may be incorporated into a thesis or dissertation with appropriate citation to the Version of Record.

17. Conference and Working-Paper Versions

A manuscript derived from a conference paper, presentation, poster, abstract, working paper, or institutional report may be considered where:

the prior version is disclosed;
the authors hold the necessary rights;
the journal article provides a substantive scholarly contribution;
overlapping material is cited appropriately;
any previous exclusive licence has been resolved; and
the submission does not constitute concealed duplicate publication.

18. Translations

Translation constitutes an adaptation under CC BY 4.0 and is permitted where the licence conditions are satisfied.

A translated article should:

identify the authors and original article;
cite and link to the Version of Record;
identify the original language;
state that the work is a translation;
identify the translator where appropriate;
include the CC BY 4.0 licence notice;
state whether additional changes were made;
avoid implying that the translation was prepared or approved by FSSS unless this is true; and
preserve the meaning of the source accurately.

Recommended notice for an independent translation:

This is an independent translation of an article originally published in Food Systems, Safety & Sustainability. The translation was not prepared or verified by the journal or publisher. In the event of inconsistency, the original Version of Record should be consulted.

19. Adaptations and Derivative Works

Users may create adaptations, including:

abridged versions;
educational adaptations;
translated versions;
annotated editions;
modified figures and tables;
data visualisations;
multimedia presentations;
policy summaries;
technical transformations; and
works combining licensed content with other materials.

An adaptation must not be presented as the original article or as an official journal version unless authorised expressly by the publisher.

The adapter is responsible for the accuracy, legality, ethics, and presentation of the adapted material.

20. Text and Data Mining

FSSS supports lawful text and data mining, computational analysis, indexing, machine processing, and automated discovery of open-access content.

Such use is subject to:

the CC BY 4.0 conditions where copyright permission is required;
applicable exceptions and limitations under law;
appropriate attribution where licensed material is shared;
privacy and data-protection requirements;
database and third-party rights;
reasonable security and service-integrity measures;
restrictions applying to excluded material; and
prohibitions against misleading representation or false endorsement.

The licence does not guarantee access to confidential underlying data, restricted supplementary materials, publisher security systems, or content owned by third parties.

21. Tables, Figures, and Other Article Components

Original tables, figures, diagrams, and other components created by the authors are normally covered by the article’s CC BY 4.0 licence.

Users may reuse these components where:

the component is not identified as third-party material;
appropriate attribution is provided;
the article DOI and licence are identified;
changes are indicated;
the component is not presented misleadingly; and
other applicable rights are respected.

Figure or table captions should identify any material excluded from the article’s licence.

22. Third-Party Material

An article may contain text, images, photographs, maps, figures, tables, questionnaires, scales, datasets, software, trademarks, or other material owned by a third party.

Third-party material is covered by CC BY 4.0 only where:

the rights holder authorised its inclusion under that licence;
the material was already available under a compatible licence;
the material is in the public domain; or
the article states clearly that the material is included within the CC BY 4.0 licence.

Material excluded from the licence should carry a notice such as:

© [Rights holder]. Reproduced with permission. This material is not included under the article’s CC BY 4.0 licence. Further reuse requires permission from the rights holder.

Users are responsible for identifying and obtaining permission for reuse of excluded material.

23. Author Responsibility for Permissions

Before submission, authors must obtain all permissions necessary to reproduce third-party material in both electronic and print formats and under the intended open-access conditions.

Permission must normally cover:

publication by FSSS and Panorama Scholarly Group;
worldwide distribution;
electronic and print formats;
open online access;
archiving and preservation;
the applicable Creative Commons licence where intended; and
reasonable technical conversion and accessibility processing.

Authors must submit permission documentation when requested.

Payment of a permission fee does not guarantee that the permission is sufficient for open-access publication.

24. Quotations and Copyright Exceptions

Authors may rely on an applicable copyright exception or limitation, such as quotation, criticism, review, fair use, or fair dealing, where permitted by law.

Authors remain responsible for determining whether:

the amount used is proportionate;
the use serves a legitimate scholarly purpose;
the source and author are acknowledged;
the use does not substitute improperly for the original work;
the material is used in a legally permitted manner; and
additional permission is unnecessary.

The Editorial Office may request permission or removal where the legal basis for reproduction is unclear.

25. Data, Databases, and Supplementary Materials

The licence applying to an article does not automatically determine the licence applying to every associated dataset or supplementary resource.

Authors should identify clearly:

the copyright or database-right holder;
the licence applying to each dataset;
whether data are public, restricted, or controlled access;
third-party rights affecting reuse;
participant-consent restrictions;
Indigenous or community-governance conditions;
commercial or contractual restrictions;
the repository and persistent identifier; and
any conditions applying to extraction, reuse, or redistribution.

Where appropriate, authors may use a recognised open-data licence or public-domain dedication. The selected licence must be compatible with applicable ethical, legal, contractual, and governance requirements.

26. Software and Source Code

Software and source code should normally be distributed under a recognised software licence rather than relying solely on the article’s CC BY 4.0 licence.

Authors should identify:

the software copyright holder;
the applicable open-source or proprietary licence;
third-party dependencies;
restrictions on redistribution;
patent or export-control issues where applicable;
the version or release used;
the repository or archive; and
the preferred citation.

The article may describe and link to software without changing the software’s independently applicable licence.

27. Trademarks, Patents, and Personality Rights

CC BY 4.0 does not grant all rights that may be relevant to a proposed use.

Users may need additional permission concerning:

trademarks and service marks;
patents and patent applications;
trade secrets;
privacy rights;
publicity and personality rights;
confidential information;
contractual restrictions;
moral rights where applicable;
Indigenous, traditional, or community rights;
database rights not controlled by the licensor; and
other rights held by third parties.

Publication of a trade name, trademark, product, process, or patented method does not grant permission to use that right commercially or imply endorsement by the journal.

28. Moral Rights

Authors retain moral rights to the extent recognised under applicable law.

Nothing in this policy should be interpreted as requiring an author to waive moral rights beyond what is:

necessary to permit publication and dissemination;
provided under CC BY 4.0;
permitted by applicable law; and
agreed through the journal’s publication process.

Adaptations must not be presented in a manner that falsely attributes altered statements or conclusions to the original authors.

29. Images and Information Identifying Individuals

Reuse of photographs, case details, quotations, audio, video, or other identifiable material may require additional permission from the individual concerned, even where the article is published under CC BY 4.0.

Users must consider:

the scope of the original consent;
privacy and data-protection law;
the possibility of re-identification;
rights of individuals appearing in the material;
the sensitivity of the information;
cultural or community restrictions; and
whether the intended reuse differs from the original scholarly context.

30. Indigenous and Community-Held Knowledge

Open licensing does not override valid rights, governance arrangements, or ethical restrictions concerning Indigenous, traditional, local, or community-held knowledge.

Authors and users must respect:

collective ownership or custodianship;
community consent;
cultural protocols;
restrictions on sacred or sensitive knowledge;
data-sovereignty arrangements;
attribution requirements determined by the community;
benefit-sharing agreements;
restrictions on commercialisation; and
other lawful and ethically justified conditions.

Material subject to such conditions should be identified clearly and excluded from unrestricted licensing where necessary.

31. Government and Public-Domain Works

Some works created by governments or other public bodies may be subject to special copyright rules or may be in the public domain.

Authors must identify the applicable status accurately.

CC BY 4.0 does not impose restrictions on material that is already in the public domain or where use is permitted independently under an applicable legal exception.

A licence statement should not be used to imply that the author or journal owns rights that do not exist.

32. Funder and Institutional Requirements

Authors are responsible for identifying funder or institutional requirements concerning:

copyright retention;
open-access licensing;
repository deposit;
rights-retention statements;
data and software licensing;
publication acknowledgements;
embargoes;
government-employee works; and
other intellectual-property obligations.

Authors should inform the Editorial Office before acceptance where a funder or institution requires wording different from the journal’s standard copyright notice.

Alternative wording will be considered only where it remains compatible with the journal’s fully open-access model and applicable publication arrangements.

33. Author Warranties and Declarations

By submitting and approving an article for publication, the authors confirm that, to the best of their knowledge:

the article is original or all reused material has been identified appropriately;
they possess the rights necessary to submit and license the work;
all authors approved publication;
no conflicting exclusive licence has been granted;
third-party material has been cited and authorised appropriately;
the article does not infringe copyright, privacy, confidentiality, trademark, patent, database, or other protected rights;
identifiable material is supported by appropriate consent;
all permissions and licences are accurate and complete;
the copyright-holder information is correct;
funding and institutional obligations have been disclosed;
the open-access licence can lawfully be applied to the identified material; and
the journal has been informed of any material restriction affecting publication or reuse.

34. Copyright and Licensing Agreement

After acceptance, the journal may require authors or an authorised representative to complete an electronic or written publication agreement.

The agreement may confirm:

author identity and authority;
copyright ownership;
the non-exclusive publishing licence granted to the publisher;
application of CC BY 4.0;
author warranties;
third-party permissions;
the rights of all co-authors;
the authorised corresponding author;
the article’s publication and preservation arrangements; and
the journal’s right to maintain and correct the scholarly record.

Acceptance is not complete until required publishing documentation has been supplied and approved.

35. Copyright Notice on Published Articles

The copyright and licence status should appear clearly on the HTML and PDF versions of each article.

Recommended standard notice:

© [Year] The Author(s). Published by Panorama Scholarly Group. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, reproduction, and adaptation in any medium, including for commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source, a link to the licence is provided, and any changes are indicated.

The notice should link to:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

36. Recommended Short Licence Notice

Where space is limited, the following may be used:

© [Year] The Author(s). Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

The licence name should be linked to the official Creative Commons licence page in electronic formats.

37. Website Copyright

The copyright and licensing terms applying to journal articles are separate from the rights applying to the FSSS website.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, CC BY 4.0 does not automatically apply to:

the journal website design;
the FSSS name and logo;
the Panorama Scholarly Group name and logo;
publisher trademarks and branding;
submission-system software;
website source code;
administrative databases;
unpublished editorial content;
confidential peer-review material;
commercial graphics and templates; or
third-party website components.

The presence of open-access articles on the website does not authorise copying of journal or publisher branding in a way that implies affiliation or endorsement.

38. Journal and Publisher Names and Logos

The names, logos, visual identities, and marks of FSSS and Panorama Scholarly Group may not be used to:

suggest sponsorship or endorsement;
create a misleading journal or publisher website;
imitate official correspondence or certificates;
advertise unauthorised services;
misrepresent an adapted article as an official journal version;
solicit manuscripts or payments fraudulently; or
otherwise confuse readers, authors, or institutions.

Ordinary nominative use of the journal and publisher names for accurate citation, criticism, reporting, or identification is not prohibited.

39. Reprints and Republication

Third parties may reproduce complete articles under CC BY 4.0 without purchasing an exclusive reprint licence, provided that all licence conditions are satisfied.

A republication should:

identify the original authors;
cite FSSS as the journal of first publication;
include the original DOI;
reproduce the copyright and licence notice;
indicate any modifications;
identify the republication as separate from the Version of Record;
retain correction or retraction information; and
avoid implying publisher endorsement.

Panorama Scholarly Group may provide official print, reprint, translation, or production services. Such services do not restrict the independent reuse rights granted under CC BY 4.0.

40. Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

Corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, and related notices form part of the scholarly record and will normally remain openly accessible.

Where an article is corrected or retracted:

the article and notice should be linked;
the current publication status should be displayed clearly;
users should cite the corrected version where applicable;
reusers must not conceal a known retraction or material correction;
adapted or redistributed copies should be updated where reasonably possible; and
the CC BY 4.0 licence normally remains applicable to copies already received under its terms.

Retraction does not ordinarily remove the article from the scholarly record or convert it into unlicensed material.

Continued reuse of a retracted article without identifying its retracted status may be misleading and inconsistent with responsible scholarly practice.

41. Irrevocability of the Public Licence

CC BY 4.0 is intended to be irrevocable for users who comply with its conditions.

Accordingly, an author or publisher cannot ordinarily withdraw the permissions already granted to compliant users merely because:

the author changes their preference;
the article is criticised;
the author changes institution;
the article is corrected or retracted;
a commercial use occurs; or
a permitted adaptation is published.

This does not prevent action against:

failure to provide attribution;
false endorsement;
use of material excluded from the licence;
privacy or confidentiality violations;
trademark or patent infringement;
defamation;
unlawful processing of personal information;
plagiarism or research misconduct; or
another use not protected by the licence or applicable law.

42. No Additional Restrictions

Users may not apply legal terms or effective technological measures that prevent recipients from exercising the rights granted under CC BY 4.0.

For example, a person redistributing licensed material should not:

claim exclusive copyright in the unchanged original article;
apply digital restrictions that prevent lawful copying of the licensed material;
require recipients to waive rights granted under the licence;
remove the licence notice;
prohibit adaptations otherwise permitted by CC BY 4.0; or
impose terms that conflict with the public licence.

An adapter may license their own new contributions, provided that the chosen terms do not prevent recipients from complying with CC BY 4.0 for the original licensed material.

43. Disclaimer of Endorsement and Warranties

Open licensing does not constitute a warranty that:

the article is suitable for a particular purpose;
all information is free from error;
all third-party rights have expired;
the material may be used without considering privacy or other rights;
a method, product, or intervention is safe;
the findings apply to every setting; or
the journal endorses a particular reuse.

Users remain responsible for evaluating the article and obtaining any permissions necessary for their intended use.

44. Copyright or Licensing Concerns

A concern may be submitted where a person believes that:

their copyrighted material was published without permission;
the copyright holder is identified incorrectly;
the wrong licence was applied;
third-party material was included improperly under CC BY 4.0;
an article infringes copyright, database rights, privacy, confidentiality, trademark, patent, or another protected right;
authorised material is being reused without attribution;
journal or publisher branding is being used misleadingly; or
another material intellectual-property problem affects a publication.

The report should include:

the claimant’s identity and contact information;
identification of the protected work or right;
the article title and DOI;
the specific material concerned;
evidence of ownership or authority;
the legal or licensing basis of the concern;
copies of relevant permission agreements; and
the action requested.

45. Editorial Response to Rights Concerns

Where a credible copyright or licensing concern is received, FSSS may:

request clarification or evidence;
contact the authors or relevant rights holder;
review permission and licence documentation;
temporarily restrict access to affected material where necessary;
remove or replace a disputed component;
publish a correction or clarification;
update the copyright or licence notice;
retract or remove content in serious cases;
seek independent legal or technical advice;
notify a repository, index, or service provider; or
take another proportionate action under the journal’s policies.

A complaint does not establish infringement automatically. Affected parties should normally receive a reasonable opportunity to respond before final action is taken, except where urgent legal, privacy, or safety concerns require immediate measures.

46. Disputes between Authors and Institutions

FSSS does not normally adjudicate complex ownership disputes between authors, employers, institutions, sponsors, or other parties.

The journal may:

pause publication while ownership is clarified;
request written confirmation from the institution;
request the relevant employment, funding, or assignment agreement;
require the parties to obtain an institutional determination;
publish a correction after ownership is resolved;
refer the dispute to the appropriate authority; or
decline publication where valid rights cannot be established.

47. Complaints and Appeals

An author, rights holder, or other affected party may request reconsideration where they believe that:

copyright ownership was identified incorrectly;
a licence was applied without authority;
valid permission evidence was overlooked;
material was classified incorrectly as third-party content;
a rights complaint was handled unfairly;
an undisclosed conflict of interest affected the assessment;
the journal’s published procedure was not followed; or
the editorial response was disproportionate.

Requests should be submitted under the journal’s Complaints and Appeals Policy and must include relevant supporting evidence.

48. Final Author Checklist

Before submission, authors should confirm that:

the correct copyright holder has been identified;
all authors have authority to submit and publish the work;
no conflicting exclusive publishing right has been granted;
all authors agree to publication under CC BY 4.0;
institutional and funder requirements have been reviewed;
all third-party material has been identified;
necessary permissions have been obtained;
permissions permit open-access electronic and print publication;
material excluded from CC BY 4.0 is labelled clearly;
figures, tables, photographs, maps, and questionnaires have been checked;
consent for identifiable material has been obtained;
data, databases, software, and code have separate licence information where necessary;
Indigenous and community rights have been respected;
preprints and prior publication have been disclosed;
the copyright and licence statement is accurate;
the Version of Record may be deposited and distributed openly;
the authors understand that CC BY 4.0 permits commercial reuse and adaptation;
the authors understand that compliant public licence rights are generally irrevocable;
the article does not infringe another person’s legal rights; and
all permission records have been retained.

49. Standards Informing This Policy

This policy is informed by internationally recognised open-access and publication-transparency principles, including:

Reference to an external organisation means that its licence or guidance informs this policy. It does not imply membership, certification, endorsement, or formal affiliation unless this is stated separately and independently verifiable.

50. Contact

Questions concerning copyright ownership, Creative Commons licensing, author reuse, repository deposit, third-party permissions, translations, reprints, data and software licences, or alleged infringement should be directed to the FSSS Editorial Office through the official contact information provided on the journal website.

Correspondence concerning an existing manuscript or article should include:

the manuscript or article title;
the submission identification number or DOI;
the name of the copyright or rights holder;
the material or licence concerned;
a clear explanation of the question or concern;
relevant permission or ownership documentation; and
the action requested.