The Annals of Proteomics and Bioinformatics (APB) upholds a transparent copyright and licensing policy that empowers authors to retain full ownership of their work while enabling unrestricted access and reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This ensures that scientific knowledge disseminated through APB remains freely available and reusable for research, teaching, and innovation.

APB believes that open licensing strengthens the visibility, accessibility, and long-term impact of scientific literature by removing barriers to knowledge sharing.

1. Author Copyright Retention

Authors publishing with APB retain complete copyright of their manuscripts. Upon acceptance, authors grant the publisher a non-exclusive license to publish, distribute, and archive the work in any format or medium. This license allows the journal to make the article publicly available while preserving the author’s right to reuse, reproduce, or distribute the material freely.

Authors may post the published version (PDF) on institutional repositories, preprint servers, or personal websites.
Authors may reuse figures, tables, or text excerpts in other publications with proper citation.
No transfer of copyright ownership occurs; authors remain the legal rights holders.

2. Licensing Terms

License Type: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Under this license, users are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format;
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially;
Attribute — give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.

There are no additional restrictions beyond those stated in the license. View the complete license text at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

3. Publisher Rights and Responsibilities

The publisher, Heighten Sciences Publication Incorporation (HSPIOA), holds a non-exclusive publishing right that enables APB to:

Distribute and archive published articles in electronic and print forms.
Deposit metadata and DOIs through CrossRef for indexing and citation linking.
Preserve long-term access through archiving networks such as Portico, LOCKSS, and PKP PN.

The publisher does not claim ownership of the article content and guarantees that all reuse permissions remain vested with the authors under the CC BY 4.0 license.

4. Third-Party Materials

Authors must ensure that all third-party materials (e.g., figures, images, or datasets) included in their manuscripts are properly licensed for reuse or fall under fair-use provisions. If permission is required for reproduction, authors must obtain written consent from the copyright holder prior to submission.

Such permissions must clearly state that the material may be reused under the same CC BY 4.0 license terms, or include citation to the original source if reuse is limited.

5. Data and Software Licensing

To promote reproducibility and transparency, APB encourages authors to license associated datasets, code, and supplementary materials under open licenses such as:

Creative Commons Zero (CC0) for data without restrictions.
MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses for software and code.
GNU General Public License (GPL) for open-source software distributions.

Authors should include a “Data Availability Statement” and specify the repository links (e.g., PRIDE, ProteomeXchange, GitHub, Zenodo) in their manuscripts.

6. Use and Distribution by Readers

Readers are permitted to share, reuse, and adapt published material without requesting permission, provided that:

The original authors and the journal are credited appropriately.
The source link (DOI) is cited.
Indication of modifications (if any) is included.

APB encourages citation of reused content to maintain academic attribution and ensure traceable scholarly impact.

7. Commercial Use

The CC BY 4.0 license permits commercial reuse of published content provided attribution is maintained. Examples of permitted commercial uses include incorporation of APB articles in textbooks, corporate training, or research analytics platforms.

Any reuse that modifies content or presents it out of context must include clear acknowledgment and a link to the original version to avoid misrepresentation.

8. Institutional and Repository Access

APB supports the widest possible distribution of scholarly work. Institutions may freely store and display APB content in digital libraries or repositories for teaching and research purposes. The journal metadata is openly harvestable via the OAI-PMH protocol to support interoperability and inclusion in global research databases.

9. License Attribution Format

Each published article includes a license statement at the end of the document or on its landing page. The recommended attribution is:

“This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).”

10. Exceptions and License Changes

In rare circumstances (e.g., government-funded or collaborative projects), authors may request an alternative license subject to editorial approval. Such exceptions are considered only when consistent with open-access principles and legal requirements.

11. Liability Disclaimer

While APB and its publisher take all reasonable steps to ensure publication accuracy, the views expressed in published articles remain those of the authors. The publisher disclaims responsibility for any misuse or interpretation of published content by third parties.

12. Policy Review and Updates

This copyright and licensing policy is reviewed annually to reflect changes in international copyright law, Creative Commons updates, and open-science frameworks. The effective revision date appears at the bottom of this page.

13. Contact Information

For licensing or permissions inquiries, please contact:

Editorial Office – Annals of Proteomics and Bioinformatics (APB)
Email: [email protected]
Publisher: Heighten Sciences Publication Incorporation
Website: www.proteobiojournal.com

Copyright and Licensing