Archiving and Digital Preservation

Current status as of: 1 June 2026

1. Purpose and Scope

AMG Transcend Association is committed to supporting the continued accessibility, integrity, continuity, and preservation of the scholarly content published by its journals.

This policy establishes publisher-level principles concerning journal archives, digital preservation, persistent identification, publication metadata, continuity of access, post-publication records, infrastructure changes, and transparency concerning external preservation arrangements.

Digital preservation is distinct from indexing, abstracting, discoverability, DOI registration, operational backup, and ordinary website availability.

These functions may support access to scholarly content but must not be represented as equivalent to participation in a dedicated long-term digital-preservation service.

2. Preservation of the Scholarly Record

Published scholarly content is intended to remain part of the permanent scholarly record.

AMG Transcend Association maintains access to the scholarly content for which it has publishing responsibility and seeks to ensure reasonable continuity of access as publishing technologies, platforms, and organizational arrangements change.

The scholarly record includes, as applicable:

  • published articles;
  • article metadata;
  • figures and supplementary materials published with an article;
  • Corrections;
  • Expressions of Concern;
  • retraction notices;
  • other formal post-publication notices.

Historical content must not be removed merely because it is no longer current, receives limited readership, has ceased to contribute to current journal metrics, or is associated with a discontinued journal.

3. Journal Archives

Each AMG Transcend Association journal must maintain organized online access to the scholarly content for which it has publishing responsibility.

Journal archives must provide sufficient bibliographic organization to allow readers to identify and retrieve published material through information such as:

  • publication year;
  • volume and issue, where applicable;
  • article title;
  • authors;
  • publication date;
  • article number or pagination;
  • persistent identifiers where available.

Historical journal content must remain reasonably accessible through the journal’s archive structure for as long as AMG Transcend Association retains responsibility for that content.

Changes to website structure or publishing platforms must not result in intentional abandonment of historical scholarly content.

4. Persistent Identification

AMG Transcend Association supports the use of persistent identifiers for scholarly publications.

Where Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) or other persistent identifiers are assigned, associated metadata and destination information must be maintained so that published works remain reliably identifiable despite reasonable changes to journal websites, publishing platforms, hosting systems, or URL structures.

Persistent identifiers support stable identification and linking but do not themselves constitute a complete digital-preservation system.

Changes in publishing infrastructure must therefore be managed in a manner that preserves both persistent identification and reasonable continuity of access to the underlying scholarly content.

5. Publication Metadata

Publication metadata is an important component of the scholarly record.

Relevant metadata may include:

  • article title;
  • authors and affiliations;
  • journal title;
  • publication date;
  • volume and issue information;
  • article number or pagination;
  • DOI or other persistent identifier;
  • abstract and keywords;
  • article type;
  • copyright and licensing information;
  • publication-status information, including Corrections, Expressions of Concern, or retractions where applicable.

Where metadata are distributed to external scholarly infrastructures, AMG Transcend Association and its journals must seek to maintain reasonable consistency between those records and the Version of Record published by the journal.

Material changes affecting article status must be reflected in relevant metadata where technically supported.

Metadata relating to corrected, questioned, or retracted content must not intentionally continue to represent that content as unchanged or unaffected.

6. Integrity of the Published Record

The purpose of preservation is not only continued access but also maintenance of the identity, status, and publication history of scholarly content.

Published articles must not be silently modified in ways that materially alter the scholarly record.

Where substantive changes are required after publication, they must be made transparently and in accordance with the Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern policy.

The publication record must distinguish, where applicable, between:

  • the Version of Record;
  • formal Correction notices;
  • corrected or republished versions;
  • Expressions of Concern;
  • retraction notices;
  • other authorized post-publication records.

Changes affecting scholarly content must preserve sufficient information for readers to understand the publication history.

7. Corrections, Retractions, and Preservation

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, retractions, and other formal post-publication notices form part of the permanent scholarly record and must remain associated with the publications to which they relate.

Where technically possible:

  • the affected article must link to the relevant notice;
  • the notice must link to the affected article;
  • article metadata must reflect the applicable publication status;
  • relevant external metadata services should be updated where supported;
  • the relationship between the original article and subsequent editorial actions must remain clear.

Retraction must not ordinarily result in deletion of the article from the scholarly record.

Exceptional restriction, suppression, or removal of publicly accessible content may occur only under the circumstances described in the Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern policy.

8. Indexing, Identification, Backup, and Preservation

AMG Transcend Association distinguishes between several functions that support scholarly publishing:

  • indexing and abstracting, which facilitate discovery and bibliographic visibility;
  • persistent identification, which supports stable identification and linking;
  • operational backup, which may support recovery from technical failure;
  • digital preservation, which is intended to support the continued integrity and accessibility of scholarly content over the long term.

These functions are related but are not interchangeable.

Inclusion in an indexing or abstracting service, assignment of a DOI, operation of a website backup, or visibility through search engines must not be described as evidence that content is preserved through an independent long-term preservation archive.

9. External Digital-Preservation Services

Independent digital-preservation services can provide additional protection against loss of scholarly content resulting from technical failure, organizational change, platform discontinuation, publisher cessation, or other disruptions.

AMG Transcend Association may establish arrangements with recognized digital-preservation infrastructures, scholarly archives, repositories, or other appropriate services.

Participation in an external preservation service must be publicly claimed only after:

  • the relevant arrangement has been formally established;
  • the journals or content covered by the arrangement have been confirmed;
  • the nature and scope of the preservation service are understood.

AMG Transcend Association will not represent indexing, abstracting, DOI registration, search-engine discovery, repository visibility, ordinary website hosting, operational backup, or informal third-party copies as equivalent to participation in a dedicated long-term digital-preservation service.

10. Current Preservation Status and Future Development

As of the date stated, AMG Transcend Association does not maintain a subscription or formal participation arrangement with a dedicated independent digital-preservation service such as Portico, CLOCKSS, or LOCKSS.

AMG Transcend Association considers establishment of an independent long-term digital-preservation arrangement an important objective in the further development of its scholarly publishing infrastructure.

The publisher intends to evaluate appropriate preservation services and establish a suitable arrangement.

Until such an arrangement is formally established, AMG Transcend Association will:

  • maintain access to published journal archives through its existing publishing infrastructure;
  • maintain article metadata and persistent identifiers under its control;
  • preserve links between published articles and formal post-publication notices;
  • support reasonable continuity of access during infrastructure changes;
  • avoid making unsupported claims concerning independent long-term preservation.

Once a dedicated preservation arrangement has been formally established, the relevant service, journals covered, content scope, and nature of the arrangement will be disclosed transparently on the publisher and relevant journal websites.

Any future statement concerning participation in an external archive, repository, or preservation service will be made only after the applicable participation, preservation, or deposit arrangement has been confirmed.

11. Repository and Archive Deposits

Where appropriate technical, legal, and contractual arrangements exist, AMG Transcend Association journals may deposit content and metadata with external repositories, scholarly archives, research infrastructures, or preservation services.

Depending on the requirements of the receiving service, deposited materials may include:

  • structured article content;
  • publication PDFs;
  • figures;
  • supplementary materials;
  • article metadata;
  • copyright and licensing information;
  • formal Correction, Expression of Concern, or retraction notices.

Deposit arrangements must respect applicable copyright, licensing, privacy, confidentiality, ethical, contractual, and technical requirements.

Repository or archive deposit must not be described as long-term digital preservation unless the receiving service actually provides that function for the deposited content.

12. Changes in Publishing Infrastructure

Changes in hosting providers, journal websites, content-management systems, publishing platforms, domain structures, manuscript systems, or other technical infrastructure must be managed with appropriate attention to continuity of access to previously published scholarly content.

Where applicable, migration planning must consider:

  • published article files;
  • publication metadata;
  • supplementary materials;
  • persistent identifiers;
  • archive navigation;
  • article URLs and redirects;
  • formal post-publication notices;
  • links between related scholarly records;
  • copyright and licensing information.

A change in publishing technology, platform, domain, or hosting arrangements must not be treated as justification for abandoning previously published scholarly content.

Where URLs change, reasonable measures should be taken to maintain redirects or other mechanisms supporting continued access where technically possible.

13. Journal Transfer, Discontinuation, or Cessation

If an AMG Transcend Association journal is transferred, merged, renamed, discontinued, or ceases active publication, appropriate measures must be taken to maintain access to its historical scholarly record.

Where responsibility for a journal is transferred to another publishing entity, arrangements should address, where applicable:

  • continuity of article access;
  • persistent identifiers;
  • publication metadata;
  • copyright and licensing information;
  • Corrections and other post-publication notices;
  • archive continuity;
  • future preservation responsibilities.

Discontinuation of active publication does not remove the importance of maintaining access to previously published scholarly content.

Where a journal ceases publication but AMG Transcend Association retains responsibility for its historical content, reasonable public access to that content must continue.

14. Open Access and Digital Preservation

Open access and digital preservation are complementary but distinct principles.

The fact that an article is freely accessible on a journal website does not by itself establish long-term digital preservation.

Similarly, preservation of an article does not determine the copyright or reuse rights applicable to that work.

Access to and reuse of AMG Transcend Association journal content remain governed by the applicable Open Access, Copyright and Licensing policy and by the copyright and license terms attached to the individual publication.

15. Transparency

AMG Transcend Association will provide accurate and current information concerning the archiving and digital-preservation arrangements applicable to its journals.

The publisher and its journals must not:

  • claim participation in a preservation service that has not been formally established;
  • describe anticipated future arrangements as though they were already operational;
  • describe indexing, DOI registration, website backup, or repository visibility as independent long-term preservation where that characterization is not accurate.

Where an external preservation arrangement is introduced, changed, expanded, or discontinued, relevant public information must be updated accordingly.

The purpose of such transparency is to allow authors, readers, libraries, repositories, indexing services, and other stakeholders to understand how continued access to the scholarly record is supported.

16. Periodic Review

Digital-preservation arrangements must be reviewed periodically and when material changes occur in:

  • publishing infrastructure;
  • journal ownership or publishing responsibility;
  • hosting arrangements;
  • preservation services;
  • publication formats;
  • repository arrangements;
  • relevant technical requirements.

AMG Transcend Association will continue to review opportunities to strengthen its preservation arrangements and reduce dependence on the public journal website as the sole means of long-term access to published scholarly content.

Any material improvement in preservation coverage must be reflected accurately in the relevant publisher and journal information.

17. Relationship with Other Policies

This policy should be read together with applicable AMG Transcend Association and journal policies concerning:

  • Open Access, Copyright and Licensing
  • Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern
  • Data Integrity and Reproducibility
  • Publication Ethics and Research Integrity
  • Editorial Independence and Governance

Individual journals may provide additional information concerning confirmed preservation, repository, indexing, archiving, backup, and continuity arrangements.