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Archiving and Digital Preservation Policy

The Historian, published by the Department of History, Institute of Global and Historical Studies, Government College University (GCU) Lahore, recognizes that the preservation of scholarly research is a fundamental responsibility of the publisher. In accordance with our Publication Ethics, we employ a multi-layered archiving strategy to ensure that all published content remains accessible, usable, and traceable for future generations.

  1. Open Access and Licensing
  • Immediate Access: All articles published in The Historian are "Gold Open Access." They are immediately available on the journal’s website without subscription barriers or embargo periods.
  • Licensing: Content is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This allows scholars to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, provided the original work is properly cited.
  1. Digital Identification (DOIs)

To guarantee persistent identification and stable linking:

  • DOI Assignment: Every article is assigned a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) via Crossref immediately upon acceptance and payment of the Article Processing Charge (APC).
  • Citation Stability: The DOI ensures that the article remains findable even if the URL changes or the platform is migrated.
  1. Institutional Preservation (GCU Lahore)

As the publisher, Government College University Lahore commits to the long-term stewardship of the journal's content:

  • Institutional Repository: All published issues are deposited in the GCU Digital Repository, ensuring that the intellectual output of the journal is backed by the stability of one of South Asia's oldest institutions.
  • Server Redundancy: Content is hosted on secure institutional servers with daily backups and redundant cloud storage to prevent data loss due to technical failure or cyber incidents.
  1. External Archiving and Indexing

To protect against the unlikely event of a catastrophic system failure or cessation of publication, The Historian participates in distributed preservation networks:

  • LOCKSS/CLOCKSS: The journal utilizes the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) and CLOCKSS systems to create permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration.
  • Third-Party Repositories: Published content is indexed and archived in recognized external databases (e.g., Internet Archive) to ensure multiple access points.
  1. Author Self-Archiving Policy

The Historian encourages authors to increase the visibility of their work through self-archiving ("Green Open Access"):

  • Preprints: Authors may deposit the submitted version (before peer review) on personal websites or preprint servers, provided they acknowledge that the work has been submitted to The Historian.
  • Accepted Manuscripts (Postprints): Authors may deposit the accepted version (after peer review but before typesetting) in institutional repositories.
  • Version of Record: Authors may deposit the final published PDF in any repository immediately after publication, provided they include the DOI and a link to the original article on the journal’s website.
  1. Data Availability and Appendices
  • Supplementary Materials: Historical datasets, archival scans, or extended bibliographies submitted alongside articles are archived with the main text.
  • Persistence: These materials are subject to the same preservation standards as the articles themselves.
  1. Post-Publication Updates (Retractions and Corrections)

In line with our Publication Ethics and Withdrawal Policy:

  • Permanence: Published articles are never "deleted" from the archive.
  • Retractions: If an article is retracted due to ethical breaches (e.g., plagiarism, data fabrication), the original PDF remains accessible but is watermarked "RETRACTED". A retraction notice is linked to the DOI to ensure the history of the scholarship is transparent.
  • Corrections: Minor errors are addressed via a Corrigendum or Erratum notice, which is permanently linked to the original article.
  1. Cessation of Publication

In the event that The Historian ceases publication, GCU Lahore guarantees that the entire archive will remain accessible via the university’s digital library ensuring that the scholarly record is never lost.