Copyright and Licensing

ACEE supports a transparent and ethical model where authors retain copyright ownership over their work. Upon acceptance, authors grant ACEE a non‑exclusive license to publish and distribute the article. This approach preserves intellectual rights while enabling broad dissemination.

Creative Commons Licensing

All articles published in ACEE are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, adaptation, and commercial reuse—with appropriate attribution to the original authors and ACEE.

Author Rights

  • Authors retain full copyright to their work.
  • Authors are free to reuse, share, or publish their work elsewhere, provided the original citation is included.
  • Authors may self-archive the accepted manuscript or published version in institutional or subject repositories without embargo.

Publisher’s Rights

Under the licensing agreement, ACEE is granted the right to publish, preserve digitally, index metadata, and disseminate content globally. The journal may also produce derivative formats (e.g. PDF, HTML) for archival and distribution purposes.

Re-use & Permissions

Third parties may reuse, adapt, or translate ACEE articles—commercially or non-commercially—without seeking formal permission, so long as proper attribution is given according to CC BY 4.0 terms.

Compatible Funder Requirements

The CC BY licensing and rights-retention model fulfills requirements of major funding bodies (e.g., Plan S, NIH, EU Commission), ensuring compliance with mandates that support open and immediate sharing.

No ‘All Rights Reserved’ Clauses

ACEE does not use restrictive copyright statements such as “All Rights Reserved.” Use of standard Creative Commons licensing ensures clarity, consistency, and legal enforceability.

Benefits to Contributors & Community

  • Maximum visibility: CC BY facilitates broad distribution and reuse, resulting in higher citation potential.
  • Legal clarity: CC licensing provides a clear legal framework for reuse, removing barriers to open dissemination.
  • Author control: Authors retain autonomy over their content and can repurpose their work in diverse contexts.
  • Mandate alignment: Our licensing policy aligns seamlessly with global open access mandates and funder requirements.