CONTENTS

1. Scope and purpose
2. Definitions
3. Preservation services
4. Indexing and metadata dissemination
5. Content scope
6. File format standards
7. Metadata archiving
8. Trigger access conditions and procedure
9. Disaster recovery procedures
10. Integrity and fixity verification
11. Post-publication status preservation
12. Backfile coverage
13. Local platform backup
14. Keepers Registry
15. Operational responsibilities
16. Annual review and public reporting
17. Normative references
18. Cross-references to the editorial policy framework

 

1. SCOPE AND PURPOSE

This Digital Preservation Policy sets out the commitment of European Gynecology and Obstetrics (EGO) and its Publisher to the long-term digital preservation of all published scholarly content. The policy enumerates the archiving services used, the content covered, the file format and metadata standards adopted, the conditions under which preserved content is made accessible (trigger events), the disaster recovery procedures, and the responsibilities of the parties involved.

The overarching commitment to digital preservation is stated in the Editorial Policy Statement (Section 25). It is further referenced in the Open Access Policy (Sections 4, 14, and 15) and the Corrections and Retractions Policy (Section 11). The present document provides the technical provisions required by those cross-references.

This policy is effective from the date of its adoption. It applies to all articles published from the first issue of the Journal, as well as to previously published content (backfile) as specified in Section 12.

2. DEFINITIONS

Version of Record (VoR).  The final, definitive version of a published article as it appears in the Journal, incorporating all editorial corrections applied up to the time of the relevant archiving operation. The VoR is the authoritative version for citation and scholarly reference purposes.

Dark archive.  A preservation repository in which content is stored but not publicly accessible under normal conditions. Access is granted only upon the occurrence of a defined trigger event.

Trigger event.  A defined circumstance in which access to the Journal's active platform is disrupted to the extent that the continued public availability of published content cannot be guaranteed. Trigger events include, without limitation: cessation of the Publisher's operations; any circumstances preventing the Publisher from offering ongoing access to published content; catastrophic and sustained failure of the Journal's delivery platform for a continuous period exceeding 90 days; and insolvency or liquidation proceedings affecting the Publisher.

Format migration.  The process of converting preserved content from a file format at risk of obsolescence to a current, widely supported format, while maintaining the intellectual content and integrity of the original. Migration events are documented and do not alter the substantive content of the preserved article.

Fixity check.  A technical process used to verify that preserved digital objects have not been altered, corrupted, or lost since the time of deposit. Fixity checks are typically implemented by comparing stored cryptographic checksums with the values recorded at the time of the initial deposit.

Preservation deposit.  The act of transferring a copy of published content and associated metadata to a preservation service for long-term safekeeping, independently of the Publisher's active platform.

Backup.  A short-term, operational data recovery mechanism maintained on the Publisher's active hosting platform to restore service continuity following data loss, corruption, or system failure. A backup is conceptually and operationally distinct from a preservation deposit: it is retained for a limited period on infrastructure controlled by the Publisher, does not involve format migration or independent third-party custody, and is not designed to ensure continued access to published content independently of the Publisher's own platform. The Journal's backup arrangements are described in Sections 9 and 13.

3. PRESERVATION SERVICES

The Journal ensures long-term preservation of its published content through the services described in this section. The use of multiple independent services provides redundancy and protects against the risk of single-service failure.

Preservation deposits to the long-term archiving services described in Sections 3.1 and 3.2 are performed no later than 30 days after online publication of each article. Completeness of the backfile deposit is verified at least annually as part of the review described in Section 16.

Long-term preservation services

3.1  PKP Private LOCKSS Network (PKP PN).  The Journal participates in the PKP Private LOCKSS Network (PKP PN), operated by the Public Knowledge Project at Simon Fraser University Library, Canada. PKP PN provides decentralized and distributed preservation of the Journal's complete published record across a global network of participating libraries running the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) software. Participation is enabled through the PKP PN plugin for OJS 3.x, in accordance with the PKP PN Terms of Use. PKP PN fulfills the Berlin Declaration requirement to deposit in at least one online repository maintained by an institution committed to open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving.

3.2  CLOCKSS.  The Journal participates in CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS), an internationally recognized dark archive jointly governed by a board of leading academic publishers and research libraries. CLOCKSS preserves content in a geographically distributed network of archive nodes using the LOCKSS technology. In the event of a trigger, CLOCKSS makes preserved content freely and openly accessible to all users and assigns a Creative Commons Open Access license to ensure its permanent availability.

Pending and future integrations

3.3  Pending and future integrations.  The arrangements described in this subsection are presented for transparency but do not constitute active long-term preservation services for this policy. Their inclusion reflects the Publisher's ongoing efforts to expand the Journal's coverage of preservation and discoverability. It does not reduce or replace the obligations arising from the active services listed in Sections 3.1 and 3.2.

(a)  Other future preservation services.  The Publisher may enroll the Journal in additional preservation services, including Portico or other services listed in the Keepers Registry, at its discretion. Any addition will be announced on the Journal's website and reflected in the next revision of this policy. Addition of supplementary services does not reduce or replace the obligations arising from the services listed in Sections 3.1 and 3.2.

3.4  Project JASPER.  The Journal may be considered eligible for Project JASPER (JournAlS are Preserved forevER) support - the joint preservation initiative of CLOCKSS, DOAJ, Internet Archive, Keepers Registry, and PKP, specifically designed to support diamond open access journals in securing long-term preservation coverage - subject to the applicable eligibility criteria at the time of application. The Publisher undertakes to ensure that the Journal's content is accessible for JASPER-facilitated deposit where applicable.

3.5  Operational status of preservation services.  The table below sets out the current operational status of the Journal's preservation services. This table is reviewed and updated annually as part of the review described in Section 16.

Service	Status	Coverage	Evidence
PKP Private LOCKSS Network (PKP PN)	Active	All published articles, current and backfile	OJS PKP PN plugin enabled;
CLOCKSS	Active	All published articles, current and backfile	deposit active
Keepers Registry (CIEPS)	Active	eISSN 2710-2580	Record verified at keepers.issn.org

4. INDEXING AND METADATA DISSEMINATION

This section describes the services through which the Journal's published content and associated metadata are made discoverable and interoperable within the international scholarly communication infrastructure. These services support discoverability, interoperability, and compliance with funder and institutional repository requirements; they do not constitute long-term digital preservation services within the meaning of Section 3 and are not a substitute for the dark-archive and distributed-preservation arrangements described therein.

4.1  OpenAIRE.  The Publisher registers the Journal's published articles and associated metadata with the OpenAIRE infrastructure to ensure discoverability within the European Open Science ecosystem and compliance with the repository requirements of Horizon Europe and the European Research Council. OpenAIRE serves as a metadata dissemination and interoperability platform and does not function as a long-term dark archive in the sense of Sections 3.1 and 3.2. The Journal's platform supports OAI-PMH for automated metadata exchange with OpenAIRE and other authorized aggregators. The current operational status of the OpenAIRE integration (Active; article-level metadata; OAI-PMH endpoint configured and metadata harvested) is reported alongside the Journal's preservation services in Section 3.5, for ease of reference.

5. CONTENT SCOPE

The preservation commitment covers all content published by the Journal, including the following categories:

(a)  All peer-reviewed research articles in all article types defined in the Submission Guidelines, including Original Articles, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, Meta-analyses, Case Reports, Case Series, Short Communications, Letters to the Editor, Commentaries, Protocols, Guidelines and Consensus Documents, Data Notes, and any further article types introduced by subsequent amendments to the Submission Guidelines.

(b)  All editorial content, including Editorials and invited contributions.

(c)  All post-publication notices, including Corrections, Retractions, Expressions of Concern, and Removal Notices. Preserved versions of corrected or retracted articles retain their post-publication editorial status and any associated notices, in accordance with Section 11.

(d)  Supplementary files attached to published articles and hosted on the Journal's platform, including supplementary tables, figures, appendices, code, and other ancillary materials.

(e)  Persistent identifier records (DOIs registered with Crossref) linking to externally hosted research datasets and software declared in the Data Availability Statement, to the extent that the preservation services support the archiving of metadata and persistent links.

(f)  All previously published content (backfile) from the first published issue of the Journal, as specified in Section 12.

(g)  Third-party materials included in published articles and subject to rights restrictions are preserved together with the article where legally permitted; any applicable restrictions are indicated in the article text and in the associated metadata.

6. FILE FORMAT STANDARDS

The following file formats are adopted as preservation standards. All formats are open, widely supported, and consistent with the requirements of the applicable preservation services.

(a)  PDF/A.  The archival variant of the Portable Document Format (ISO 19005) embeds all fonts and color profiles. It does not depend on external resources, ensuring long-term renderability independent of the originating software environment. Where articles are generated in standard PDF format, the Publisher undertakes to convert them to PDF/A for archival deposit to the extent supported by the applicable preservation service.

(b)  JATS XML.  JATS XML (NISO ANSI/NISO Z39.96, current version 1.4, October 2024): the Journal Article Tag Suite, which provides a machine-readable, structured representation of article content and metadata. JATS XML is the primary format for structured deposit to PMC, PubMed, and OpenAIRE, as well as for automated metadata harvesting. The Publisher commits to producing JATS XML for all articles and to supplying it to preservation services and indexing databases in accordance with the applicable deposit procedures.

(c)  HTML.  The hypertext version of the article as rendered on the Journal's platform, included in the preservation deposit to the extent supported by the receiving service.

(d)  Image assets.  Figures and graphical elements preserved in their original file format (SVG, PNG, or JPEG) alongside the corresponding article files.

Format migration: the Publisher monitors developments in file format standards and undertakes to migrate preserved content to current, widely supported formats as formats approach obsolescence. Migration events are documented, do not alter the intellectual content of the preserved article, and are reported in the annual review conducted under Section 16.

7. METADATA ARCHIVING

Metadata associated with each published article is deposited to and maintained in the following schemas and protocols:

(a)  Crossref.  Full bibliographic metadata - including DOI, article title, authors (with ORCID iDs where provided by authors), institutional affiliations (with ROR identifiers where available), abstract, keywords, funding information, Data Availability Statement, CRediT contributor roles, and license terms - are deposited to Crossref at the time of publication and updated upon each post-publication modification.

(b) JATS XML.  Structured article-level metadata are embedded in the JATS XML file and included in the preservation deposit to preservation services, databases, and indexing platforms.

(c)  Dublin Core.  Dublin Core metadata is exposed through the Journal's OAI-PMH interface for harvesting by authorized aggregators and preservation services, including OpenAIRE and DOAJ.

(d) OAI-PMH.  The Journal's platform supports the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), allowing automated metadata collection by authorized harvesters. The OAI-PMH endpoint exposes article-level metadata in Dublin Core and JATS formats.

(e)  DOAJ.  Journal-level and article-level metadata are maintained in conformity with DOAJ metadata requirements and updated upon each publication cycle.

8. TRIGGER ACCESS CONDITIONS AND PROCEDURE

8.1  Definition of trigger event.  A trigger event occurs when access to the Journal's active platform is disrupted to the extent that the continued public availability of published content cannot be guaranteed, in accordance with Section 2. The determination of whether a given disruption constitutes a trigger event rests with the governing body of each applicable preservation service (PKP PN; CLOCKSS), in accordance with their respective governance procedures.

8.2  Trigger access via CLOCKSS.  Upon the CLOCKSS Board's determination of a trigger event, preserved content is made freely and openly accessible to all users without restriction. It is assigned a Creative Commons Open Access license. No action by the Publisher or the Journal is required for CLOCKSS trigger access to take effect, as determination and activation are managed entirely by the CLOCKSS governance structure.

8.3  Trigger access via PKP PN.  Upon determination of a trigger event, PKP staff make preserved content accessible via a dedicated OJS instance operated by PKP member institutions. PKP PN defines 2 categories of trigger events: (a) explicit notification by the Journal Manager that the Journal is ceasing publication or that the Publisher is unable to maintain the platform; and (b) termination of activity detected by PKP PN automated monitoring tools, typically triggered by prolonged inactivity or inaccessibility of the Journal's OJS instance.

8.4  Publisher obligation.  The Publisher undertakes to notify PKP PN and CLOCKSS promptly upon the occurrence of a trigger event within its direct knowledge, and to cooperate with the applicable governance procedures to facilitate timely access to preserved content. The Publisher also undertakes to maintain the active status of its participation agreements with PKP PN and CLOCKSS and to renew them in accordance with the applicable terms.

9. DISASTER RECOVERY PROCEDURES

9.1  Platform-level backup.  The Publisher maintains a multi-tier backup regime for the Journal's OJS platform. Full backups of the database and file store are performed at least daily. Backups are retained for a minimum of 30 days and stored in a location geographically separate from the primary hosting infrastructure. The Journal's hosting is provided by Quoll (Italian provider); no personal data or published content is transferred to jurisdictions outside the European Economic Area as part of the backup regime.

9.2  Recovery objectives.  The Publisher defines the following recovery objectives for the Journal's OJS platform: (a) Recovery Point Objective (RPO): no more than 24 hours of published content or editorial data loss, consistent with the daily backup frequency described in Section 9.1; (b) Recovery Time Objective (RTO): restoration of normal platform access within 5 working days of a declared disruption event, in cases not constituting a trigger event as defined in Section 2. For trigger events, the access restoration procedure is governed by Section 8. The Publisher conducts at least 1 documented backup restore test per calendar year; the outcome is documented and reviewed as part of the annual review described in Section 16. Backups are protected with access controls consistent with the security provisions of the Privacy and Data Protection Policy. The preservation services described in Section 3 provide an independent safety net, ensuring continued access to the published record if platform recovery is not achievable within the defined RTO.

9.3  Coordination with preservation services.  In the event of a sustained platform failure that meets the threshold of a trigger event as defined in Section 2, the Publisher will notify the applicable preservation services and cooperate with the trigger access procedures described in Section 8, ensuring continued availability of the Journal's published content without material interruption to the scholarly record.

10. INTEGRITY AND FIXITY VERIFICATION

10.1  Service-level fixity checks.  The preservation services used by the Journal (PKP PN and CLOCKSS) perform automated fixity checks on preserved content using cryptographic checksums. These checks verify that preserved digital objects have not been altered, corrupted, or lost since their deposit. Any integrity failure detected during a fixity check is investigated and resolved in accordance with the procedures of the applicable preservation service.

10.2  Publisher-level version control.  The Publisher maintains version control and documented change logs for all published content. Any post-publication modification to a published article - whether a correction, retraction, or removal - is applied exclusively through the formal procedures established in the Corrections and Retractions Policy and is communicated to the preservation services at the time of the modification, to ensure that the archived version reflects the current editorial status of the article.

11. POST-PUBLICATION STATUS PRESERVATION

Preserved versions of all published articles retain their post-publication editorial status at the time of each preservation deposit. Where an article has been subject to a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or removal notice, the archived version includes the applicable post-publication notice. It reflects the corresponding editorial status in both the article record and the associated metadata.

Retracted articles are retained in the Journal's archive and in the preservation services, with the retraction notice attached and the retracted status clearly indicated in the metadata. Removal of a published article from the Journal's active platform does not constitute authorization for removal from the preservation services. The obligation to maintain the archived version remains in force unless the applicable preservation service governance procedures determine otherwise.

These provisions are consistent with the NISO Communication of Retractions, Removals, and Expressions of Concern Recommended Practice (NISO RP-45-2024), the COPE Retraction Guidelines, and the STM Association Guidelines on the Preservation of the Objective Record of Science, all of which establish that articles constituting the Version of Record should remain extant, exact, and unaltered to the maximum extent possible.

12. BACKFILE COVERAGE

This policy applies to all articles published by the Journal from the first published issue. All previously published content (backfile) is included in the preservation deposit to PKP PN and CLOCKSS on the same terms and with the same priority as current content. The Publisher undertakes to verify the completeness of the backfile deposit to all active preservation services as part of the annual review described in Section 16.

Backfile content is identified in the metadata deposit to Crossref, DOAJ, and OpenAIRE to ensure discoverability and to support retrospective access by researchers. DOIs are assigned to all backfile articles to the extent that they have not previously been assigned, in accordance with the Journal's DOI registration procedure with Crossref.

13. LOCAL PLATFORM BACKUP

The Publisher's hosting arrangements for the OJS platform include redundant storage, scheduled database and file-store exports to cold storage, and off-site replica maintenance. These arrangements are designed to ensure the operational continuity of the Journal's active publishing platform and are distinct from the long-term preservation obligations described in this policy.

Detailed technical specifications of the hosting infrastructure are maintained by the Publisher and are reviewed as part of the annual review described in Section 16. The Publisher undertakes to ensure that the hosting specification remains adequate for the Journal's operational needs and consistent with best practices in academic journal hosting.

14. KEEPERS REGISTRY

The Journal's digital preservation coverage is registered in the Keepers Registry (https://keepers.issn.org), operated by the ISSN International Centre (CIEPS). The Keepers Registry is the authoritative public directory of preservation coverage for serial publications worldwide. DOAJ and other indexing bodies reference it as evidence of a journal's archiving commitments. The record in the Keepers Registry reflects the coverage reported by each archiving agency and is updated by those agencies in accordance with their own reporting schedules.

The Publisher undertakes to monitor the accuracy of the Journal's record in the Keepers Registry and to ensure that it accurately reflects the Journal's active preservation commitments. The Publisher will follow up with the applicable preservation services (PKP PN and CLOCKSS) regarding the timely reporting of active coverage to the Keepers Registry and will promptly notify them of any changes in preservation service participation.

15. OPERATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

15.1  Publisher (Edikta S.r.l.).  The Publisher is responsible for: (a) maintaining active membership in and compliance with the terms of PKP PN and CLOCKSS; (b) ensuring that all published content and associated metadata are deposited to the applicable preservation services promptly following publication; (c) monitoring the integrity of preservation deposits and responding to any fixity failures or alerts reported by the preservation services; (d) maintaining the platform-level backup regime described in Section 13; (e) communicating trigger events to the applicable preservation services promptly; (f) maintaining the Journal's record in the Keepers Registry in a current and accurate state; and (g) conducting the annual review described in Section 16.

15.2  European Society of Gynecology (ESG).  The European Society of Gynecology, as the scientific society that holds the editorial brand and ISSN of the Journal, is informed annually of the status of preservation activities as part of the annual review. In the event of a change in the publishing arrangement between the Publisher and the European Society of Gynecology, the parties shall ensure continuity of the preservation commitments set out in this policy, and the incoming publisher shall assume the preservation obligations described herein from the date of the transfer of publishing responsibilities.

15.3  Editor-in-Chief.  The Editor-in-Chief is informed of the outcomes of the annual review and of any material developments affecting the Journal's preservation status. The Editor-in-Chief is not operationally responsible for the preservation services but may be consulted in the event of a trigger event or a significant change in preservation arrangements.

16. ANNUAL REVIEW AND PUBLIC REPORTING

This policy is subject to annual review by the Publisher. The review assesses:

(a)  the continued activity and terms of participation of the preservation services listed in Section 3, including verification of the operational status table in Section 3.5;

(b)  the completeness and integrity of the preservation deposit, including the backfile, as reported by the applicable preservation services;

(c)  any changes in file format standards that may require format migration action under Section 6;

(d)  the accuracy of the Journal's record in the Keepers Registry;

(e)  the outcome of the annual backup restore test conducted under Section 9.2;

(f)  any changes in relevant international standards, DOAJ requirements, or indexing criteria that necessitate revision of this policy.

The outcomes of the review are reported to the Editor-in-Chief and, where relevant, to the European Society of Gynecology.

17. NORMATIVE REFERENCES

This policy has been developed in accordance with the following directly implemented technical standards and services:

-  CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS): https://clockss.org

-  PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN): https://pkp.sfu.ca/pkp-pn

-  Keepers Registry (ISSN International Centre - CIEPS): https://keepers.issn.org

-  OpenAIRE: https://www.openaire.eu

-  Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org

-  Project JASPER (JournAlS are Preserved forevER) - CLOCKSS, DOAJ, Internet Archive, Keepers Registry, PKP

-  NISO ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2024: Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS), version 1.4, October 2024

-  NISO RP-45-2024: Communication of Retractions, Removals, and Expressions of Concern (CREC Recommended Practice)

-  ISO 19005: Document management - Electronic document file format for long-term preservation (PDF/A)

-  STM Association Guidelines on the Preservation of the Objective Record of Science (current version)

-  Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003)

-  COPE Retraction Guidelines (current version): https://publicationethics.org

-  OAI-PMH: Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting: http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/openarchivesprotocol.html

-  Crossref metadata standards: https://www.crossref.org

This policy has also been developed having regard to the following general principles and declarations of the international open access and open science movement, to the extent applicable to digital preservation and archiving:

-  Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI, 2002; reaffirmed BOAI20, 2022)

-  DOAJ - Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (current version)

-  Plan S - Principles and Implementation (cOAlition S 2026-2030)

-  FAIR Data Principles (Wilkinson et al., 2016; reaffirmed GO FAIR)

18. CROSS-REFERENCES TO THE EDITORIAL POLICY FRAMEWORK

This policy is to be read in conjunction with the following documents in the editorial policy framework of European Gynecology and Obstetrics (EGO):

(a)  Editorial Policy Statement, Section 25: overarching commitment to digital preservation; the active services, trigger access, and disaster recovery procedures are delegated to this policy.

(b) Open Access Policy, Sections 4, 14, and 15: designation of PKP PN as a conforming repository per the Berlin Declaration; full technical provisions on preservation services, indexing and metadata dissemination, trigger access conditions, format standards, metadata archiving, and disaster recovery delegated to this policy; backfile coverage.

(c) Corrections and Retractions Policy, Section 11: preservation of corrected and retracted articles and retention of their post-publication editorial status in archived versions.

(d)  Data Availability and Sharing Policy: preservation obligations relating to research data referenced in articles, including DOI-linked external datasets.

(e)  Privacy and Data Protection Policy: data protection obligations applicable to personal data processed in connection with preservation activities, including author metadata submitted to preservation services.

In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between this policy and any other document in the editorial policy framework of the Journal, the provisions of this policy shall prevail with respect to matters of digital preservation and archiving, unless the conflicting document has been expressly adopted as a superseding instrument by the Publisher.