Open access policy
Lumora is a fully open access publisher. Every article in every Lumora journal is freely and permanently available to read, download, and share from the moment of publication — with no subscription paywall, no embargo, and no registration requirement, ever.
What open access means at Lumora
Open access at Lumora means that all articles are available online, free of charge, to any reader anywhere in the world, immediately and permanently upon publication. Consistent with the definitions of the Budapest, Bethesda, and Berlin open access declarations, readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to the full texts of articles, and reuse them for any lawful purpose, subject only to proper attribution of the authors and source.
This commitment rests on three pillars:
- Immediate access — articles are free to read from the day of publication. There is no embargo period of any length.
- Permanent access — open access is irrevocable. Once published, an article remains freely available; Lumora will never retroactively place published content behind a paywall.
- Open licensing — every article carries a machine-readable open licence (CC BY 4.0) that grants reuse rights to all readers, not just the right to view.
Licensing — Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY)
All Lumora articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0), the licence recommended for open access publishing by cOAlition S, major research funders, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Under CC BY 4.0, anyone may:
- Share — copy and redistribute the article in any medium or format, for any purpose, including commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, translate, and build upon the article for any purpose, including commercially.
- Subject to attribution — reusers must give appropriate credit to the authors and the source, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made. Attribution must not suggest that the authors or Lumora endorse the reuse.
The licence and copyright statement appear on every published article, in both the HTML and PDF versions, so that reuse rights are always clear to readers and machines.
Copyright stays with authors
Authors publishing with Lumora retain copyright in their work without restriction. Authors grant Lumora a licence to publish the article and to identify itself as the original publisher; they do not transfer copyright to the publisher. Full details are set out in our Copyright & Licensing Policy.
Compliance with funder mandates and Plan S
Lumora's publishing model is designed to satisfy the open access requirements of research funders and institutions:
- Immediate open access with no embargo, as required by Plan S and comparable funder policies.
- CC BY 4.0 licensing, the default licence required by cOAlition S funders.
- Authors retain copyright, consistent with rights-retention requirements.
- Unrestricted self-archiving: authors may deposit any version of their article in any repository immediately (see below).
- Persistent identification of the version of record through Crossref DOIs (see our Archiving & Preservation Policy).
Authors whose funders have specific reporting or deposit requirements are welcome to contact Support@lumora.sa for supporting documentation.
Self-archiving — no restrictions, no embargo
Lumora places no restrictions on self-archiving. Authors may deposit the submitted version (preprint), the accepted manuscript, and the published version of record in institutional repositories, subject repositories, preprint servers, funder platforms, and personal or laboratory websites — immediately, with no embargo. We encourage authors to deposit the final published PDF and to include a citation and DOI link to the version of record on Lumora.
Third-party material
The CC BY licence applies to the article as published by its authors. Where an article includes third-party material (for example, previously published figures, extended quotations, or instruments) reproduced under permission or under a different licence, that material is identified in the article and remains governed by its own terms. Authors are responsible for obtaining and documenting any necessary permissions before publication, as described in our Copyright & Licensing Policy.
Reuse in practice
- Readers may share Lumora articles on any platform, include them in course packs and repositories, translate them, and reuse figures and tables — with attribution and a licence link.
- Text and data mining of Lumora content is permitted and encouraged; no separate agreement is required.
- Reuse must accurately represent the original work. Adapted material must be clearly marked as modified, and attribution must reference the version of record by DOI where possible.
How open access is funded
Lumora charges no subscription fees and no reader fees. Publication is supported by a transparent article processing charge (APC) payable only when an article is accepted after peer review — never at submission, and never as a condition that influences editorial decisions. There are no submission fees and no surcharges for figures, pages, or colour. See Article Processing Charges for full pricing, waiver, and payment information.
Our permanent commitment
Lumora will not introduce subscription tiers, paywalls, hybrid options, or delayed open access for any content published under this policy. This commitment applies to all current and future Lumora journals and is backed by our digital preservation commitments, which ensure the scholarly record remains accessible for the long term. Our practices follow the transparency principles promoted by COPE and DOAJ.
Last updated: July 2026 · Related: Copyright & Licensing, APC Information, Archiving & Preservation, All Policies