Open Access Policy
1. Purpose
This policy sets out the University of Malawi's (UNIMA’s) commitment to open-access publishing and defines the obligations and opportunities that open access creates for authors, editors, and readers of UNIMA journals. It seeks to maximise the visibility, accessibility, and impact of UNIMA scholarship in Malawi and beyond.
2. Scope
This policy applies to all articles published under the authority of the University of Malawi.
3. Open Access Model
All UNIMA journals operate on Open Access (OA) model. This means:
- All published articles are freely available to read, download, and share immediately upon publication, with no embargo period.
- There are no article processing charges (APCs) or publication fees for authors; and
- There are no subscription fees or paywalls for readers.
UNIMA bears the cost of publication as a contribution to global knowledge production and, in particular, to ensuring that African scholarship is freely accessible.
4. Immediate Access
All accepted manuscripts will be published in final form and made freely accessible in full on the UNIMA journal platforms immediately upon publication. UNIMA journals do not impose any period of restricted access or embargo on published content.
5. Licensing and Copyright
Open access publication under Diamond Open (CC-BY-4.0) model does not diminish authors' copyright. The applicable Creative Commons licence for each journal governs how published work may be reused, shared, and built upon.
Copyright ownership arrangements and Creative Commons licence terms are set out in full in the Copyright and Licensing Policy.
6. Archiving and Preservation
UNIMA journals commit to the long-term digital preservation of all published content. Articles will be deposited in recognised digital archives and indexed in major scholarly databases to ensure their continued availability. Authors are also encouraged to deposit a copy of their accepted manuscript in an institutional or subject repository where this is consistent with the applicable licence.
7. Author Self-Archiving
Consistent with the applicable Creative Commons licence, authors may deposit and share their published articles (the final published version, or 'version of record') on personal websites, institutional repositories, preprint servers, and social networking platforms for academics, without restriction, provided that proper attribution is given to the UNIMA journal as the original publisher.
8. Policy Review
The policy will be reviewed from time to time or as developments in publication ethics require. Any revisions will be communicated to all journal editors and made publicly available on the UNIMA website.