The Bangladesh Journal of Fisheries Research (BJFR), published by the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), is committed to advancing the global dissemination of high-quality scientific knowledge through a fully open access publishing model. The journal believes that unrestricted access to scholarly research accelerates scientific discovery, fosters innovation, promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, and enhances the practical application of research findings for the benefit of society.
BJFR supports the principle that scientific knowledge should be freely available to researchers, educators, policymakers, practitioners, students, industry stakeholders, and the general public without financial, legal, or technical barriers. By removing access restrictions, the journal seeks to maximize the visibility, accessibility, usability, and impact of research in fisheries, aquaculture, aquatic sciences, marine biology, environmental management, and related disciplines.
This Open Access Policy establishes the principles governing the publication, accessibility, distribution, and reuse of articles published in BJFR.
Open access model
BJFR operates as a fully open access journal. All articles are made freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication without subscription fees, registration requirements, or embargo periods. Readers may access the complete content of the journal from anywhere in the world without charge. Published articles are available in their final Version of Record through the journal’s official website and other authorized digital platforms. BJFR does not restrict access to published research based on geographic location, institutional affiliation, or financial capacity. The journal is committed to ensuring equitable access to scientific knowledge for researchers and readers worldwide.
Immediate and permanent accessibility
All accepted manuscripts are published as open access immediately after completion of the editorial, production, and publication processes. There is no embargo period for any article published in BJFR. The final published Version of Record remains permanently accessible through the journal’s website and approved archiving systems. BJFR is committed to preserving the long-term accessibility of published content through appropriate digital preservation and archiving practices. Article metadata and persistent identifiers, including Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), are maintained to ensure reliable discovery, citation, and long-term accessibility.
Copyright and licensing
Authors publishing in BJFR retain the copyright to their work. Publication in the journal does not require authors to transfer copyright ownership to the publisher.
All articles published in BJFR are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Under this licence, anyone may:
- Read and download articles.
- Copy and redistribute published content.
- Print or share articles in any medium or format.
- Adapt, remix, translate, transform, and build upon the work.
- Use articles for educational, research, governmental, commercial, or non-commercial purposes.
- Perform text and data mining.
- Incorporate published material into databases, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, educational resources, policy documents, software, and other derivative works.
These permissions are granted provided that appropriate credit is given to the original authors, the source publication is acknowledged, the article is properly cited, the applicable licence is identified, and any modifications are clearly indicated.
Rights of authors
Authors retain extensive rights over their published work. Authors may:
- Reproduce and distribute their published articles.
- Deposit the Version of Record in institutional, national, or subject repositories immediately upon publication.
- Share articles through personal websites, laboratory websites, and institutional webpages.
- Use published material in teaching, conferences, workshops, seminars, theses, dissertations, and future scholarly works.
- Include articles in books, book chapters, reports, grant applications, and educational materials.
- Disseminate articles through academic networking platforms, professional societies, and social media.
- Reuse figures, tables, datasets, and supplementary materials in future publications with appropriate citation.
Authors are encouraged to promote their published work to maximize scientific visibility, collaboration, and research impact.
Rights of readers and third parties
BJFR encourages the widest possible dissemination and lawful reuse of published research. Readers, educators, researchers, policymakers, industry professionals, librarians, students, and other users may, without requesting permission from either the authors or the journal:
- Access and read published articles.
- Download, print, and store articles.
- Copy and redistribute published content.
- Share articles through repositories, websites, educational platforms, and databases.
- Translate articles into other languages.
- Adapt and build upon published material.
- Conduct systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and evidence syntheses.
- Perform computational analysis, including text and data mining.
- Reuse content for commercial or non-commercial purposes in accordance with the terms of the CC BY 4.0 licence.
Users must provide appropriate attribution and must not imply endorsement by the authors or BJFR unless such endorsement has been explicitly granted.
Benefits of open access
BJFR recognizes that open access publishing provides substantial benefits for authors, readers, institutions, funding agencies, and society. Open access publication:
- Increases the visibility and discoverability of research.
- Enhances citation potential and scholarly impact.
- Facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Promotes rapid dissemination of scientific knowledge.
- Supports evidence-based policymaking and fisheries management.
- Encourages innovation and technology transfer.
- Improves access for researchers in low- and middle-income countries.
- Supports teaching and lifelong learning.
- Enables compliance with open access requirements of research funders and institutions.
- Promotes transparency, reproducibility, and public trust in science.
By adopting a fully open access model, BJFR contributes to the global exchange of scientific knowledge and supports the advancement of sustainable fisheries, aquaculture, and aquatic resource management.
Archiving and repository policy
BJFR supports the long-term preservation and dissemination of published research. Authors may deposit the published Version of Record immediately after publication in:
- Institutional repositories;
- Subject-specific repositories;
- National repositories;
- University digital libraries;
- Government repositories;
- Personal and laboratory websites;
- Research information systems;
- Academic social networking platforms, where permitted by their terms of use.
The journal encourages authors to include complete bibliographic information, the DOI, and a link to the official published version when depositing articles. BJFR also supports participation in recognized digital preservation and archiving initiatives to ensure the long-term availability and integrity of published content.
Compliance with funding agency requirements
Many national and international funding organizations require that research outputs be published in open access formats. BJFR’s publishing model is designed to support compliance with the open access policies of research funding agencies, governmental organizations, universities, and research institutions. Because articles are published immediately under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence, authors may satisfy the open access requirements of many funding bodies without additional embargo periods or permissions. Authors remain responsible for ensuring compliance with any specific grant conditions or institutional mandates applicable to their research.
Responsibilities of authors
Authors submitting manuscripts to BJFR agree to publish their work under the journal’s open access model. Authors are responsible for:
- Ensuring that submitted work is original.
- Obtaining permission for any third-party copyrighted material included in the manuscript.
- Providing accurate funding and conflict of interest disclosures.
- Complying with the journal’s editorial and ethical policies.
- Respecting the rights granted under the CC BY 4.0 licence.
Authors should also promote responsible reuse of their work by encouraging accurate citation and appropriate attribution.
Responsibilities of the journal
BJFR is committed to implementing and maintaining high standards of open access publishing. The journal will:
- Provide immediate and unrestricted access to all published articles.
- Clearly display licensing and copyright information on every article.
- Preserve the integrity of the published Version of Record.
- Maintain accurate article metadata and persistent identifiers.
- Support indexing, archiving, and long-term preservation of published content.
- Promote transparency in editorial and publishing practices.
- Periodically review its open access policies in response to developments in scholarly publishing and international best practices.
Compliance with international standards
BJFR’s Open Access Policy is developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles and recommendations for open scholarly communication, including:
- Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI);
- Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities;
- Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing;
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ);
- Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE);
- International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE);
- Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA);
- Creative Commons;
- Crossref; and
- Other internationally accepted standards for responsible scholarly publishing.
The journal periodically reviews this policy to ensure continued alignment with evolving international best practices.