Repository Policy

Digital Preservation & Archiving Policy

1. Purpose

The Inverge Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS) recognizes that the long-term preservation of scholarly research is vital for the integrity of the academic record. This policy outlines our commitment to ensuring that all published content remains accessible and usable in the event of hardware failure, software obsolescence, or the discontinuation of the journal.

2. Preservation Services (The Keepers)

IJSS utilizes distributed archiving and preservation services to ensure "Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe" (LOCKSS).

  • PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN): We utilize the PKP PN to digitally preserve all journal content. The PKP PN creates a distributed archive among participating libraries to ensure the long-term accessibility of the journal's content.

  • Internet Archive: The journal issues and metadata are regularly harvested and stored by the Internet Archive to provide a permanent, public-access "dark archive."

3. Website Archiving and Redundancy

The journal’s website content is maintained across a multi-tier backup system:

  • Active Server: The primary location for public access and current submissions.

  • Daily Cloud Backups: Automated daily incremental and weekly full backups are stored on secure, geographically separate cloud servers.

  • Off-site Storage: Quarterly mirrors of the entire database and PDF library are stored in a physical, offline environment to prevent data loss from cyberattacks.

4. Persistent Identifiers (DOIs)

Every article published in IJSS is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) via Crossref. This ensures that even if the journal's URL changes, the scholarly work remains discoverable and citable via a persistent link.

5. File Formats and Future-Proofing

To prevent technological obsolescence, IJSS:

  • Archives all articles in PDF/A (Portable Document Format for Archiving), a standard specifically designed for long-term preservation.

  • Retains article metadata in XML (Dublin Core/JATS) formats to allow for easy migration to future platforms.

6. Self-Archiving & Secondary Access

In addition to central preservation, we empower our authors to act as "secondary archivists."

  • Authors are encouraged to deposit the Version of Record (Final PDF) in their institutional repositories and global platforms like ResearchGate, Academia.edu or any other.

  • This ensures that the research exists across thousands of independent nodes globally.

7. Successive Access Plan

In the unlikely event that the journal ceases operations, the Inverge Journal of Social Sciences is committed to making its full archive available through the PKP Preservation Network to ensure that the "Version of Record" remains accessible to the public for free in perpetuity.