The Barind Medical College Journal (BMCJ) is committed to ensuring the long-term preservation and accessibility of its published content through a robust and comprehensive archiving policy. This policy guarantees that all articles remain available and accessible to readers, researchers, and healthcare professionals, regardless of technological changes or unforeseen disruptions. By collaborating with trusted archiving partners, adopting international standards, and allowing for self-archiving, BMCJ ensures that its scholarly contributions remain a permanent and accessible part of the global body of medical research.

Digital Preservation

BMCJ prioritizes digital preservation to maintain the integrity and accessibility of its content over time. All articles are archived in digital formats optimized for long-term usability, such as PDF/A, which is specifically designed for archiving and ensuring readability across future technological changes. Digital preservation strategies include creating multiple backup copies of all published articles and ensuring that these copies are stored in geographically distributed locations to protect against data loss due to server failure, natural disasters, or other unforeseen events. The archived content is regularly monitored and updated to prevent degradation or obsolescence.

 

Archiving Partners and Repositories

BMCJ collaborates with established archiving services and scholarly repositories to enhance the security and accessibility of its published content. The journal's articles are permanently archived with trusted partners such as:

• LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe): BMCJ follows the LOCKSS principle, which involves storing multiple copies of digital content in geographically dispersed locations to ensure data resilience and integrity.
• CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS): CLOCKSS provides a global, community-led archiving solution for long-term digital preservation. BMCJ articles are securely stored in this network to guarantee continued access in case of catastrophic failure or loss of the primary journal site.
• Institutional Repositories: BMCJ encourages authors to deposit their published work in their institutional repositories. This allows further dissemination of research and additional preservation at the institutional level.

 

In addition, BMCJ ensures that its content is indexed and archived in major academic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and other relevant medical databases, which enhances the discoverability and long-term access to its research.

 

Self-Archiving

BMCJ supports self-archiving policies for authors, allowing them to deposit their work's final, published version in personal or institutional repositories immediately upon publication. This aligns with the journal's open-access policy and the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license. Authors can freely share their research on platforms such as ResearchGate, institutional repositories, or personal websites, ensuring greater visibility and accessibility of their work.

Self-archiving further extends the lifespan of the research and makes it easily accessible to a broader audience, particularly in regions where institutional journal subscriptions may be limited.

 

Accessibility

BMCJ is dedicated to making its content accessible to many people. All articles are published under the open-access model, meaning that anyone with an internet connection can freely access, download, and share research without subscription or paywall barriers. This accessibility is especially important for medical professionals and researchers in developing countries who may not have access to subscription-based journals. In addition to open access, BMCJ ensures that its digital files comply with accessibility standards to support readers with disabilities. The journal works to provide its content in formats that are compatible with assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

 

Metadata and Indexing

BMCJ takes great care in ensuring that its articles are properly indexed and discoverable through metadata. Comprehensive metadata is generated for every published article, including detailed information such as author names, affiliations, article titles, abstracts, keywords, and digital object identifiers (DOIs). This metadata is then shared with indexing services, repositories, and academic databases to enhance the discoverability of the research. Through partnerships with indexing services such as Google Scholar, and CrossRef, BMCJ ensures that all articles are easily searchable and accessible to researchers worldwide. Proper metadata management increases the visibility of articles and improves the citation rate and overall impact of the published research.

 

Contingency Planning

BMCJ has a contingency plan to ensure its content's uninterrupted availability in case of emergencies or disruptions. Multiple copies of all articles are stored in geographically dispersed locations through partnerships with archiving services like LOCKSS and CLOCKSS. These measures protect against data loss due to server failures, cyber-attacks, or natural disasters. In the event of any technical failure or interruption on the journal's primary website, archived copies stored through these services will continue to be available to readers. This ensures that BMCJ's content remains accessible to the global academic community under any circumstances.

 

Compliance with Standards

BMCJ follows internationally recognized standards for digital preservation and archiving. The journal's archiving practices adhere to the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) framework, which sets forth guidelines for ensuring digital content's long-term preservation and usability. Additionally, BMCJ complies with standards set by organizations such as LOCKSS and CLOCKSS, ensuring that its digital preservation practices align with the field's best practices.