Open Access Policy

1. Policy Statement

World Bridge University (WBU) is committed to the principle of Open Access (OA) to scholarly research. The University affirms that the free, unrestricted online availability of peer-reviewed research outputs accelerates the pace of scientific discovery, enriches education, and maximises the public return on investment in research.

The WBU Scholarly Repository operates as a fully open-access institutional repository, providing permanent, barrier-free access to the intellectual output of WBU's faculty, researchers, and students. All content archived in the Repository is made freely available to readers worldwide without subscription, registration, or fee.

2. Scope and Application

This policy applies to all scholarly works produced by members of the WBU academic community, including but not limited to:

• Doctoral dissertations and master's theses
• Peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers
• Student research projects completed in fulfilment of degree requirements
• Working papers, technical reports, and preprints
• Datasets, software, and supplementary research materials where appropriate

3. Gold and Green Open Access

3.1 Gold Open Access

WBU encourages authors to publish in gold open-access journals where works are made immediately and permanently free to access upon publication, typically under a Creative Commons licence. The University supports authors in identifying suitable OA journals via the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and similar registries.

3.2 Green Open Access (Self-Archiving)

Where works are published in subscription-based journals, authors are encouraged to deposit an accepted manuscript (post-print) version in the WBU Scholarly Repository, subject to any applicable embargo period imposed by the publisher. The Repository supports compliance with major funder open-access mandates.

4. Mandate

With effect from the adoption of this policy, all postgraduate theses and dissertations submitted in fulfilment of a WBU degree are required to be deposited in the Repository upon final approval by the relevant academic board. Submission of other scholarly works is strongly encouraged and facilitated through the Repository's online deposit workflow.

5. Licensing

Unless otherwise specified and approved by the Office of Academic Affairs, all works deposited in the Repository are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. This licence permits any user to share, copy, redistribute, adapt, and build upon the work in any medium or format, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source, and any changes made are indicated.

6. Exceptions and Embargoes

Authors may apply to the Office of Academic Affairs for a temporary access embargo in circumstances involving: publisher embargo restrictions; commercial exploitation of research findings; pending patent applications; or where disclosure could pose a risk to personal safety. Embargo periods shall not ordinarily exceed twenty-four (24) months. During an embargo, only the metadata record of the work will be publicly accessible.

7. Compliance and Review

This policy shall be reviewed by the Office of Academic Affairs no less than once every three (3) years or as required by changes in funder mandates, applicable legislation, or developments in scholarly communication practice.