1. Open access model

The journal operates a fully open access model. The full texts of research articles published under this policy are available free of charge to all users on the official website immediately upon publication and are retained for permanent access.

This model supports the dissemination of theoretical, empirical and comparative research on crime, its causes and consequences, crime prevention, victimology, criminal policy and criminal justice. It facilitates the exchange of research on Uzbekistan, Central Asia and other regions among researchers, teachers, students, practitioners and readers in different countries.

2. Immediate and free access

From publication, the full text of an article is available:

• without a subscription;
• without mandatory registration or account login;
• without a fee for reading or downloading;
• without an embargo period.

There is no charge for following a link to an article. Readers do not need to request editorial permission for ordinary reading or downloading of a published text.

An account may be required for submission, peer review or other editorial functions, but is not a condition of access to a published article. Access to an abstract alone does not replace open access to the full text.

3. Creative Commons licence

Articles published under this policy are distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0. Within the copyright and similar rights granted, the licence permits users to:

• copy and redistribute all or part of the material in any medium or format;
• translate, adapt, modify and create derivative works;
• use the material for research, educational, commercial and other lawful purposes, subject to the licence conditions.

Uses permitted by CC BY 4.0 require no additional journal permission or licence fee. Properly granted rights cannot be revoked for users who comply with the licence conditions.

The licence is identified on the article page and in the published file. Both the CC BY 4.0 summary and the full legal code are available. The full legal code is legally controlling; this policy does not modify its conditions.

4. Conditions of reuse

When sharing material under CC BY 4.0, including in modified form, users must:

• retain supplied identification of authors and others designated to receive attribution in a reasonable manner provided for by the licence;
• retain supplied copyright, licence and disclaimer-of-warranties notices;
• retain a link to the source material to the extent reasonably practicable;
• identify CC BY 4.0 and provide its text or a link to it;
• indicate modifications and retain indications of previous modifications;
• avoid falsely implying endorsement of a particular use by the authors, journal or institute.

For scholarly citation, users are encouraged to include the authors, article title, Criminological Activity, year, volume or issue, pages or article number, and DOI where available. A full bibliographic reference is a scholarly citation recommendation; it imposes no additional CC BY 4.0 restriction or single mandatory attribution format.

Additional legal terms or effective technological measures that prevent use permitted by the licence must not be imposed. Detailed rules for attribution, adaptations and modified versions are set out in the Copyright and Licensing Policy.

5. Copyright

Authors retain the copyright they hold and grant the journal and the institute as publisher a non-exclusive right to first journal publication. Where economic rights are controlled by an employer or another rights holder, the necessary authority and permissions are secured before publication.

Assignment of exclusive rights to the journal is not a condition of open access. Authors’ rights, permissions granted to the publisher, reuse conditions and third-party material are governed by the Copyright and Licensing Policy. Preprint posting is considered separately from first journal publication under editorial rules.

6. Licence scope and archival material

CC BY 4.0 applies to material published under this policy and identified with that licence on the official article page and in the full text. Notices must be consistent; details of the actual rights holder and any separately excluded material are retained.

A new policy does not automatically or retrospectively change rights in previously published material. Reuse is governed by the licences, permissions and other applicable terms in effect for that publication. A new open licence may be applied to an archival article only with the necessary rights and permissions and a clear notice of those terms.

A missing licence notice or a conflict between the page and the file must not be interpreted as unconditional permission for every form of reuse. The editorial office considers such cases and clarifies the information. Free reading of archival material does not itself mean that all rights to adapt it have been granted under CC BY 4.0.

7. Authors’ rights to deposit and distribute

Without an embargo, and within their rights and applicable licences, authors may deposit the submitted manuscript, the manuscript accepted after peer review and the official published version — the Version of Record:

• on a personal or institutional website;
• in an institutional or subject repository;
• on scholarly and academic platforms whose terms are compatible with the rights in the material.

The deposited version is clearly identified. After publication, authors are encouraged to add a link to the official article and its DOI, where available. Distribution of the published version retains the necessary notices and complies with the applicable licence. No additional journal fee is charged for permitted deposits.

Deposit rights do not extend to third-party or confidential material that authors are not authorised to share. Self-archiving does not override rules on duplicate publication, simultaneous submission, participant consent or personal data protection.

8. Author charges and free access for readers

Access to published articles is free for readers regardless of whether publication costs are paid by an author, the institute or another lawful funding source. The standard Article Processing Charge (APC) is USD 100.

Through 31 December 2026 inclusive, all publication costs are covered by the budget of the Research Institute of Criminology of the Republic of Uzbekistan; no APC is charged to authors. This funding does not restrict reader access or change the CC BY 4.0 conditions.

The application of the cost-coverage period, current payment terms and any waivers or discounts are set out in the separate Article Processing Charge Policy. Applicable terms for manuscripts whose assessment continues beyond the coverage period are communicated to authors in advance. Payment of an APC, where applicable, is requested only after formal article acceptance.

Payment, waiver and funding source do not influence peer review, acceptance or rejection. A reduction or cessation of institutional cost coverage does not place already published open articles behind a paywall or cancel properly granted licences.

9. Metadata and scholarly discoverability

The journal may supply bibliographic metadata, abstracts, keywords, public author information, DOIs and links to scholarly search, indexing, library and aggregation services. This helps users find, identify and correctly cite publications; supplying metadata does not itself mean that a particular index has accepted the journal.

Supplied information must correspond to the published article and reflect corrections, retractions or link changes where applicable. Unpublished submissions, confidential reviews, internal documents and protected research data do not become open metadata. Personal data are processed under the Privacy Statement.

10. Digital preservation and long-term availability

The journal seeks to ensure the integrity of published material, backups and long-term digital preservation. Systems actually used, preservation coverage and arrangements if the platform ceases operating are described in the Digital Archiving and Preservation Policy. Participation in a particular archival network is stated only when connection and actual use are confirmed.

Website hosting, backup copies and independent long-term archiving serve different purposes. A DOI and metadata registration do not themselves replace preservation of the full text. Depositing permitted copies in institutional and subject repositories further supports access to scholarly content.

Corrections and retractions are documented with a link to the original publication and an explanation of its status. If an exceptional legal or ethical basis requires restriction or removal of particular material, the action is documented to the permissible extent under the relevant policies; this is not used as a reason to introduce paid access to the open archive.

11. Third-party material and other rights

Third-party material may have its own licence or conditions and fall outside the article’s general CC BY 4.0 licence. Exclusions are clearly identified beside the relevant material. Additional rights-holder permission is needed only where use is not already allowed by the current licence, an applicable exception or another lawful basis.

CC BY 4.0 does not automatically grant patent, trademark, privacy or personality rights, or override confidentiality and personal data protection requirements. Moral rights are considered within applicable law and the licence conditions.

In criminological research, open access to an article does not mean open access to restricted case files, identifiers of victims or other participants, signed consent forms, unpublished interviews or re-identification keys. The Data and Reproducibility Policy, Informed Consent Policy and Privacy Statement apply. Terms for data, software code and supplementary material are stated separately.

12. Policy administration

Following approval, this policy takes effect on its publication date on the official Criminological Activity website. Actual publication and amendment dates are recorded. Review takes account of legislation, technology and publishing practice and does not cancel users’ rights properly granted earlier.

The editorial office is responsible for applying the policy; the founder and publisher is the Research Institute of Criminology of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Information on article pages, in files, licence notices and related policies is kept consistent.

Questions about open access, unavailable full texts or unclear licence notices should be sent through the institute’s contact address: info@uzkti.uz. Provide the article title, DOI or link, the nature of the issue and a reply contact. Uses expressly allowed by the licence require no additional editorial permission.