Open Access

ETERNAL (English, Teaching, Learning and Research) is committed to providing immediate and unrestricted open access to all research articles and other scholarly content published by the journal.

ETERNAL believes that making scholarly research freely accessible contributes to the advancement of knowledge, supports researchers and educators, and enables wider dissemination and use of academic work across national and international communities.

1. Immediate Open Access

ETERNAL provides immediate open access to all published articles.

Once an article is officially published online, its full text is freely available to readers without:

  • subscription;
  • registration;
  • institutional access;
  • payment for access; or
  • other forms of access restriction.

Readers can access, read, download, save, and share published articles subject to the applicable copyright and licensing conditions.

ETERNAL does not place an embargo period on access to published articles.

2. Free Access for Readers

ETERNAL does not charge readers for accessing or downloading published articles.

The journal's open-access model is intended to ensure that research published in ETERNAL can reach:

  • researchers;
  • lecturers and teachers;
  • students;
  • educational institutions;
  • policymakers;
  • practitioners;
  • research organizations; and
  • the wider public.

The journal considers free access to scholarly knowledge an important part of its contribution to the development and transformation of English language education.

3. Copyright and Author Rights

Unless otherwise stated, authors retain copyright in their published work in accordance with the journal's copyright policy and the applicable publication agreement.

Publication in ETERNAL does not remove the authors' responsibility for the originality and integrity of their work.

Authors should ensure that their manuscripts do not infringe the copyright, intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or other legal rights of third parties.

The specific rights granted to readers and other users are determined by the license under which the article is published.

4. Licensing

ETERNAL publishes articles under an open-access license that permits the use and dissemination of published scholarly work subject to the terms of the applicable license.

The journal recommends the use of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows others to:

  • read and access the article freely;
  • download and save the article;
  • share and redistribute the article;
  • adapt or build upon the work; and
  • use the work for other lawful purposes,

provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and the original publication is properly acknowledged.

The applicable license information is displayed with each published article.

5. Attribution and Responsible Reuse

Open access does not mean that published work may be used without acknowledgement.

Anyone using, reproducing, sharing, adapting, or otherwise reusing material published by ETERNAL should provide appropriate attribution to the original author(s) and publication.

Attribution should, where applicable, include:

  • the author's name;
  • the article title;
  • the journal title;
  • publication information;
  • the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), where available; and
  • a link to the original publication.

Users should also indicate whether changes have been made to the original work when required by the applicable license.

6. Reuse of Published Articles

Subject to the applicable Creative Commons license and relevant copyright law, ETERNAL supports the responsible reuse and dissemination of published research.

Authors and readers may share published articles through appropriate academic and professional channels, including:

  • institutional repositories;
  • subject repositories;
  • academic websites;
  • research profiles;
  • personal academic webpages;
  • educational platforms; and
  • other lawful scholarly communication channels.

Users must comply with the conditions of the license associated with the article.

7. Open Access and Research Dissemination

ETERNAL encourages authors to disseminate their published research responsibly.

Open access allows published research to be more readily:

  • discovered by researchers;
  • used in teaching and learning;
  • discussed in academic communities;
  • incorporated into subsequent research;
  • shared through institutional repositories;
  • accessed by practitioners and policymakers; and
  • communicated to broader audiences.

The journal considers wider dissemination an important means of increasing the visibility and potential scholarly and educational contribution of published research.

8. Long-Term Accessibility

ETERNAL aims to maintain continued online accessibility to its published content.

The journal recognizes that long-term access is an important component of responsible open-access publishing. Published articles should remain part of the journal's scholarly record and should be accessible through the journal's online platform and other appropriate scholarly services where available.

The journal may participate in appropriate indexing, archiving, repository, DOI, or preservation services to support the continued availability and discoverability of its published content.

9. Open Access and Article Processing Charges

Open access and publication fees are separate matters.

ETERNAL's policy concerning Article Processing Charges (APCs), submission fees, or other publication-related charges is stated separately in the journal's Fees and Charges policy.

Where the journal does not charge authors for publication, this should be stated clearly in the Fees and Charges policy.

Readers will not be required to pay to access published articles regardless of whether publication-related charges apply to authors.

10. No Subscription Barrier

ETERNAL does not require readers to maintain a journal subscription in order to access published articles.

All articles published under the journal's open-access model are made available without a subscription barrier.

This approach is intended to support equitable access to scholarly information, particularly for researchers, educators, and students who may not have access to extensive institutional library resources.

11. Open Access and Academic Integrity

Open access does not reduce the journal's standards for academic quality or research integrity.

All manuscripts remain subject to ETERNAL's editorial and peer-review procedures before publication.

Open-access articles are therefore expected to meet the same standards of:

  • originality;
  • scholarly contribution;
  • methodological rigor;
  • research integrity;
  • ethical conduct;
  • appropriate citation;
  • transparency; and
  • responsible reporting

as articles published through other scholarly publishing models.

12. Third-Party Material

Open-access licensing of an article does not necessarily apply to every item contained within it.

Authors are responsible for identifying third-party material, including photographs, images, figures, tables, instruments, or other copyrighted content, when such material is not covered by the article's license.

Where third-party material is subject to separate copyright or licensing conditions, users must obtain permission from the relevant rights holder when required.

13. Withdrawal and Post-Publication Changes

ETERNAL recognizes that published articles form part of the permanent scholarly record.

If an article requires correction, expression of concern, retraction, or another post-publication action, the journal will handle the matter in accordance with its policies on Publishing Malpractice, Corrections, and Retractions.

Where an article is corrected or retracted, the journal will seek to maintain transparency concerning the status of the published record rather than silently removing the scholarly record.

14. Commitment to Equitable Access

ETERNAL supports open access as a means of promoting the broad and equitable dissemination of scholarly knowledge.

By providing research without subscription barriers, the journal seeks to make scholarly contributions available to readers regardless of:

  • geographical location;
  • institutional affiliation;
  • academic status; or
  • access to subscription-based library resources.

ETERNAL particularly recognizes the importance of accessible scholarly communication for researchers and educators working in contexts where access to international subscription journals may be limited.

15. Open Access Statement

ETERNAL is an open-access journal. All articles published by ETERNAL are freely available online immediately upon publication. Readers may access, read, and download the full text without subscription or payment, subject to the copyright and licensing conditions associated with each article.

ETERNAL is committed to maintaining a transparent, sustainable, and responsible open-access publishing model that supports the wide dissemination of research and contributes to the transformation of English language education.