Archiving Policy
Archiving & Digital Preservation Policy
Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Future Research (BAFR) is committed to maintaining the integrity, discoverability, accessibility, and continuity of its published scholarly record. Digital preservation is treated as a continuing publishing responsibility extending beyond the initial publication of an article.
Purpose of Digital Preservation
The purpose of digital preservation at BAFR is to ensure that published scholarly content remains identifiable, retrievable, and connected to its authoritative publication record over time, including in circumstances involving platform migration, technological change, metadata updates, or other changes to the journal's publishing infrastructure.
Preservation activities are designed to protect both the published content and the bibliographic information necessary to interpret and identify the scholarly record correctly.
Content Covered by Preservation
Version of Record
The final article formally published by BAFR constitutes the Version of Record. This version is associated with the article's official journal metadata, publication date, issue assignment, and persistent identifier.
Where a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other post-publication notice is issued, BAFR preserves the relationship between the original Version of Record and the subsequent notice so that the development of the scholarly record remains transparent.
Digital Object Identifiers
BAFR assigns Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to published articles. DOI registration supports persistent identification and reliable linking between an article and its official publication record.
Persistent identification complements digital preservation but does not replace it. BAFR therefore treats identifier management, content preservation, metadata maintenance, and access continuity as related but distinct responsibilities.
Layered Preservation Strategy
BAFR applies a layered approach to preservation. The journal's publishing infrastructure, persistent article identifiers, metadata records, Version of Record, repository dissemination, and author self-archiving collectively support continuity of the scholarly record.
Where external preservation services are used, BAFR identifies those services publicly only after their participation and deposit status have been operationally verified.
Preservation of Metadata
Preservation of the scholarly record requires more than retaining article files. BAFR therefore regards bibliographic and publication metadata as an integral component of the article record.
Where metadata errors are identified, corrections should be made carefully so that article identity, DOI relationships, publication history, authorship information, and post-publication notices remain accurate and traceable.
Author Self-Archiving
Authors are permitted and encouraged to archive their published articles in institutional repositories, disciplinary repositories, personal academic websites, and other appropriate scholarly platforms.
The final published Version of Record may be archived without an embargo, provided that BAFR is acknowledged as the original publication venue and the DOI or persistent article link is included where practicable.
Preservation of Corrections and Retractions
Published articles are not silently removed or replaced solely because errors or concerns are discovered after publication. Material changes to the scholarly record are managed through transparent post-publication notices.
Where appropriate, correction notices, expressions of concern, retraction notices, or other formal updates remain linked to the relevant article so that readers can determine the current status of the publication.
Platform Migration and Technical Change
Changes to the journal's software, hosting environment, website structure, or publishing platform should be implemented in a manner that preserves published article files, metadata, DOI relationships, issue structure, publication dates, and post-publication records.
Where URLs change, reasonable efforts should be made to maintain or update persistent links and DOI destination information so that the scholarly record remains discoverable.
Journal Interruption or Cessation
If regular publication is interrupted or the journal ceases future publication, BAFR and its publisher will seek to maintain access to the existing scholarly record and preserve the relationship between published content, article metadata, DOI records, and any available preservation or repository copies.
Repository and Third-Party Copies
Copies of BAFR articles may exist in repositories, indexing services, author websites, libraries, and other scholarly services. Such distributed copies can contribute to access continuity but do not replace the journal's responsibility for maintaining the authoritative publication record.
Where possible, repository and third-party copies should identify and link to the BAFR Version of Record using the article DOI.
Preservation Responsibilities
Policy Alignment
This policy should be read together with BAFR's Open Access Policy, Copyright Notice & Licensing, Publication Ethics Statement, and policies governing post-publication corrections and retractions.
Protecting the Scholarly Record Beyond Publication
BAFR regards digital preservation as a continuing responsibility involving article files, metadata, persistent identifiers, Version-of-Record integrity, repository dissemination, and transparent maintenance of post-publication changes.