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Open Access Policy

Open Access Policy

Frontiers in Social Thoughts and Humanity (FSTH)

eISSN: 2978-3755 | International Peer-Reviewed Journal | Open Access

1. Introduction & Core Vision

Frontiers in Social Thoughts and Humanity (FSTH) is an international, peer-reviewed, Open Access journal committed to the unrestricted, permanent, and global dissemination of high-quality research across the social sciences and humanities. The journal covers key disciplines including sociology, philosophy, anthropology, history, political science, literature, cultural studies, social theory, ethics, and interdisciplinary humanistic inquiries.

FSTH operates on the foundational principle that scientific, theoretical, and humanistic knowledge should be freely accessible to everyone without financial, legal, or technical barriers. By promoting open scholarship, the journal seeks to elevate research visibility, bridge global academic communities, foster cross-cultural dialogue, and support the continuous advancement of societal thought worldwide.

2. Open Access Statement

FSTH provides immediate, permanent, and barrier-free access to all published articles under the Gold Open Access model:

  • Immediate Availability: All research articles are published open access and made freely available online instantly upon publication.

  • Zero Embargo Period: The journal enforces no paywalls, subscription requirements, or delayed access periods (embargoes).

  • Universal Reach: Readers worldwide can view, download, print, copy, distribute, and share full-text PDFs without subscription fees, user registrations, or prior administrative approvals.

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3. Copyright Retention & Author Rights

In accordance with modern scholarly publishing standards, DOAJ guidelines, and Scopus requirements, authors retain full, unrestricted copyright of their work published in FSTH.

  • Non-Exclusive License: Authors grant FSTH a non-exclusive license to publish, reproduce, distribute, display, archive, and preserve the final Version of Record as part of the permanent scholarly record.

  • Re-use Rights: Authors retain the absolute right to reuse, distribute, translate, and reproduce their published work in future academic endeavors, books, book chapters, course materials, lectures, or institutional repositories without seeking formal permission or paying fees to the publisher.

4. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)

All articles published in FSTH are licensed and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Under the terms of this license, researchers, educators, students, policy analysts, institutions, and the general public are free to:

  • Share: Copy, distribute, and redistribute the published material in any medium or format.

  • Adapt: Remix, transform, build upon, and adapt the material for any lawful purpose, including educational, analytical, cultural, and commercial applications.

Mandatory Attribution Requirement: Credit must be properly attributed to the original author(s) and FSTH as the original place of publication, a link to the CC BY 4.0 license must be provided, and any modifications, translations, or adaptations made must be clearly indicated.

5. Rights of Readers & Reuse Guidelines

Consistent with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and the CC BY 4.0 license, readers, researchers, policy experts, and academic institutions are permitted to:

  • Search, read, download, print, link, or crawl full-text articles for indexing, text mining, and data analysis purposes.

  • Pass published content, qualitative findings, field data, and theoretical frameworks to computational tools, research archives, and analysis software without seeking extra authorization or paying royalties.

  • Cite and incorporate published humanistic and social science findings into research, literature reviews, books, policy reports, and educational material.

Proper Citation Standard

Any reuse or distribution of published work must explicitly include:

  1. Complete author attribution.

  2. Full journal citation (Frontiers in Social Thoughts and Humanity).

  3. The official Digital Object Identifier (DOI) assigned to the article.

  4. A clear indication if any adaptations, translations, or modifications were made.

6. Self-Archiving & Repository Policy

FSTH actively supports self-archiving and open repository practices (Green Open Access). Authors are encouraged to deposit and share the final Publisher's PDF (Version of Record) immediately upon publication across various platforms without any embargo period:

  • Institutional & Subject Repositories: University repositories, humanities databases, social science archives, and digital libraries (e.g., Zenodo, SSRN).

  • Academic & Professional Profiles: ORCID, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Google Scholar, LinkedIn, and personal/faculty web pages.

  • Funding Agency Archives: Open access repositories required by national or international research councils and humanities foundations.

Requirement: All self-archived versions must contain complete bibliographic citation details, a direct link to the official article DOI, and explicit recognition of FSTH as the original publisher.

7. Article Processing Charge (APC)

To maintain high-quality Open Access operations, professional copyediting, technical typesetting, Crossref DOI registration, permanent digital archiving, and web infrastructure maintenance, FSTH follows a transparent cost model:

  • Submission Fee: $0 (Free)

  • Peer Review Fee: $0 (Free)

  • Article Processing Charge (APC): An APC applies only after a manuscript successfully clears formal double-blind peer review and receives official editorial acceptance.

Waivers & Support: FSTH offers partial or full APC waivers for authors from low-income nations, independent humanists, and early-career researchers demonstrating genuine financial need, ensuring financial constraints never impede quality research publication.

8. Alignment with Global Open Science Standards

FSTH aligns its publishing operations, licensing, and Open Access policies with established international frameworks and standards:

  • DOAJ: Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

  • COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines for transparent licensing and archiving.

  • BOAI: Budapest Open Access Initiative definition and standards for open access publishing.

  • Scopus & Web of Science: Standards for article accessibility, permanent preservation, and open metadata indexing.

9. Policy Review & Governance

This policy is reviewed annually by the Editorial Board to maintain alignment with evolving open science directives, international copyright standards, and academic publishing best practices. The latest version will always remain publicly available on the journal portal.

10. Contact Information

For inquiries regarding Open Access licensing, copyright retention, self-archiving rights, or APC waiver requests, please contact the Editorial Office: