At Betta Open Ltd (“Betta”), we are committed to promoting the dissemination of knowledge through open access publishing, enabling researchers to freely access and share high-quality academic content. To ensure clarity and transparency in the handling of intellectual property rights and licensing of the works we publish, we have established the following Copyright and Licensing Policy. This policy is designed in alignment with the best practices. Authors and readers are encouraged to review the specific terms of the Creative Commons license that applies to each article to ensure full understanding of the rights and responsibilities associated with each work.

Ownership of Copyright

Copyright Transfer: Upon submission of a manuscript for publication, the author(s) are required to agree to the terms of this Copyright and Licensing Policy. Authors retain the copyright to their works, but by submitting an article for publication, authors grant Betta a license to publish the article under the terms set forth in this policy.

Original Work: The authors must confirm that the manuscript is their original work and does not infringe the copyright of any third party. By submitting the manuscript, authors guarantee that all necessary permissions for third-party content (e.g., figures, tables, excerpts) have been obtained.

Open Access Licensing

BOP adopts an open access (OA) model for all articles published. This means that the full text of all articles is freely available to all readers upon publication. The following licensing options are available for authors:

Creative Commons (CC) Licenses: All articles published by Betta are licensed under one of the Creative Commons (CC) licenses, which offer varying degrees of freedom for reuse, distribution, and adaptation. Authors can choose one of the following licenses:

• CC BY (Attribution)
• CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike)
• CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivatives)
• CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial)
• CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike)
• CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives)

Choice of License: Authors are encouraged to select the Creative Commons license that best suits their preferences and the intended use of their work. If no license is specified by the author, BOP will automatically apply the CC BY license by default.

Copyright and Moral Rights

Moral Rights: Authors retain their moral rights, including the right to attribution (the right to be identified as the author of the work) and the right to object to derogatory treatments of the work (such as modifications that may harm the author's reputation). While BOP does not claim moral rights over the published content, we are committed to respecting the moral rights of authors under applicable laws.

Modification of Work: Any changes made to an article post-publication (e.g., corrections, updates) will be clearly marked in the version history and the article will remain under the same license unless otherwise agreed.

Preprint and Postprint Policy

Preprint Policy: Authors are free to submit their manuscripts as preprints to any reputable preprint server before or during the peer review process. Preprints are not subject to any exclusive licensing agreement with Betta and may be freely accessed and distributed by the author.

Postprint Policy: Authors who publish in Betta’s open access journals may deposit the final published version (postprint) in institutional repositories or personal websites. The postprint can be shared under the terms of the Creative Commons license that the article was published under.

Author’s Rights

• Right to Reuse: Authors may reuse the content of their articles in future publications.
• Right to Share: Authors have the right to share their articles with others.
• Right to Archive: Authors are allowed to archive a copy of the published article.

Publisher’s Rights

• Right to Publish and License: Authors grant Betta the exclusive right to publish the article and license it under the chosen CC license.
• Right to Promote and Distribute: Betta reserves the right to promote the article across various platforms.

Third-Party Content and Permissions

Authors are responsible for ensuring that any third-party content included in their article is used in accordance with copyright law and that proper permission has been obtained.

Commercial Use and Distribution

Commercial Use: The Creative Commons licenses allow for varying degrees of commercial use. Authors should be aware that, depending on the chosen license, their work may be used commercially.

Publisher’s Commercial Use: Betta may commercially exploit the published article through partnerships to support the ongoing sustainability and development of BOP’s publishing services.

Retraction, Modification, and Licensing Updates

Retraction of Articles: Retracted articles remain accessible with a clear notice and reasons for retraction.

Changes to Licensing Terms: New terms will apply only to future versions of the work. The original version remains under its original license.

Dispute Resolution

Disputes regarding copyright or licensing terms will be resolved in an equitable and legal manner.

Legal Compliance

Betta complies with all relevant copyright and intellectual property laws.

Review and Updating of Policy

This policy will be reviewed periodically to ensure compliance with evolving copyright laws and industry standards.