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The Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) is a diamond open access journal. All articles are freely available to read, download, and share immediately upon publication, and no fees are charged to authors or readers.
Our open access policy is designed to maximize the visibility, accessibility, and impact of research in Urban Development and Smart Cities, while respecting authors’ rights.
1. Free and Immediate Access
All articles published in Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) are made available online immediately upon publication, with no embargo period.
Readers anywhere in the world can read, download, copy, print, and link to the full text of articles without subscription or registration.
The journal does not charge Article Processing Charges (APCs), submission fees, or any other publication fees.
2. Copyright and Licensing (CC BY 4.0)
Authors retain full copyright to their work.
Upon acceptance, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish, distribute, and archive the article, and to identify Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) as the original place of publication.
All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Under CC BY 4.0, others are free to:
Share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adapt – remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial use.
On the condition that they:
Provide appropriate credit to the author(s) and to the journal.
Include a link to the license.
Indicate if any changes were made.
The full legal text of the license is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
3. No Publication Fees (Diamond Open Access)
Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) operates on a diamond open access model:
No charges to authors (no APCs).
No charges to readers (no subscription fees).
This model is intended to support equitable participation in scholarly communication, regardless of institutional or geographic resources.
4. Self-Archiving and Repositories
Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) encourages authors to maximize the dissemination of their work:
Authors may deposit any version of their article (preprint, accepted manuscript, or publisher’s version/PDF) in institutional, disciplinary, or public repositories immediately upon publication.
No embargo period applies.
When depositing the final published version, authors should clearly indicate the journal name, volume/issue, year, and DOI, and retain the CC BY 4.0 license statement.
This policy is fully consistent with the principles of Green Open Access and typical funder open access requirements.
5. Preprints
Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) allows and supports the use of preprints:
Authors may share their manuscripts on preprint servers before submission, during review, and after publication.
Preprints should be clearly labeled as not peer-reviewed versions and, once the article is published in Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC), authors are encouraged to update the preprint record with the reference and DOI of the final published version.
Posting a preprint does not constitute prior publication and does not affect eligibility for submission to Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC).
6. Use, Text and Data Mining, and Derivative Works
Because articles are distributed under CC BY 4.0:
Text and data mining (TDM) is permitted without further permission, provided that appropriate attribution is given.
Educators, practitioners, and policymakers may freely use Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) content in teaching materials, policy reports, and professional guidelines, with proper credit.
Others may create translations, adaptations, or other derivative works, again with correct attribution and indication of any changes.
7. Compliance with Funder and Institutional Policies
The Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) open access policy and CC BY 4.0 licensing are compatible with the requirements of most research funders and institutions that mandate open access to publications.
Authors are responsible for checking any specific conditions imposed by their funders or institutions, but in general:
Immediate open access on the journal website.
CC BY 4.0 license.
Self-archiving of the accepted or published version in repositories.
These features enable compliance with many national and international open access policies (including those aligned with Plan S–style principles).
8. Long-Term Access and Preservation
Journal of Urban Development and Smart Cities (JUDSC) is committed to long-term preservation and ongoing accessibility of its published content. The journal maintains digital backups and may collaborate with recognized preservation services and repositories to ensure that articles remain available and citable over time.
If you have any questions about this Open Access Policy or how it applies to your work, please contact the editorial office at: judsc@lockescience.press.