Copyright & Licensing

Copyright

The African Journal of Health and Medical Sciences (AFJHMS) adheres to an open-access model, meaning that all published articles are freely available to the public without charge. Upon acceptance of an article, the authors retain the copyright of their work but grant AFJHMS the right to publish and distribute the article. The journal applies a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to all published content, allowing for the broadest dissemination and use of the research while ensuring proper credit to the authors.

Licensing and Author Rights

All articles published in AFJHMS are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

Key Features of the CC BY 4.0 License:

- Users must give appropriate credit to the original author(s), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.

- Attribution can be given in any reasonable manner, but not in a way that suggests endorsement.

Commercial Use – Allowed

- The work can be used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.

- This is what distinguishes CC BY from NC (NonCommercial) licences.

Adaptation and Remixing – Allowed

- Others may copy, modify, remix, transform, and build upon the work.

- Derivative works do not need to carry the same licence (no “ShareAlike” requirement).

Global and Standardized

- Valid worldwide, not limited by jurisdiction.

- License terms are clear and legally robust across different legal systems.

Irrevocable

- Once applied, the licence cannot be revoked, as long as users comply with its conditions.

No Additional Restrictions

- You cannot apply legal terms or technological measures (like DRM) that legally restrict others from doing anything the licence permits.

Author’s Rights Protected

- Moral rights (like the right to be credited) remain intact.

- The licence does not affect patent rights, trademarks, or privacy/publicity rights.

Compliance with Open Access Requirements

AFJHMS’s licensing policy complies with the open-access requirements of various funding agencies and institutions, ensuring that authors can meet the mandates for open-access publication without additional restrictions or barriers.