Open Access Policy

The International Journal of Didactic Mathematics in Distance Education (IJDMDE) is committed to the principles of open scholarship and the democratisation of access to high-quality research in mathematics education. The journal holds that freely available, openly accessible research accelerates scientific discovery, reduces duplication of effort, improves the reproducibility and verifiability of findings, and supports more equitable global participation in academic discourse — particularly for researchers and educators in low- and middle-income countries who may not have institutional access to subscription-based publications.

This Open Access Policy applies to all content published in IJDMDE, including research articles, review articles, short communications, letters to the editor, and editorial commentary. It is binding on the journal's editorial board, publisher, and all parties involved in the production and dissemination of journal content.

1. Open Access Model and Compliance Standards

IJDMDE operates as a Diamond Open Access journal. This model is characterised by the absence of financial barriers for both authors and readers: there are no Article Processing Charges (APCs) levied on authors, and there are no subscription fees, access fees, or paywalls imposed on readers. All published content is freely and permanently accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

The journal's open-access model has been designed to meet or exceed the requirements of the following standards and best-practice frameworks: 

Standard / Framework	Issuing Body	IJDMDE Compliance
Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (4th edition)	COPE / DOAJ / OASPA / WAME	Full compliance across all 16 criteria
Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI)	Open Society Foundations (2002)	Full compliance: gratis and libre open access
Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge	Max Planck Society et al. (2003)	Full compliance: free internet copy, right to use
Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing	Patrick O. Brown et al. (2003)	Full compliance: immediate access, archiving obligation
Plan S / cOAlition S Principles	Science Europe / cOAlition S	Compatible: CC BY-SA 4.0, no embargo, no APC
DOAJ Membership Criteria	Directory of Open Access Journals	Compliant: listed in DOAJ; regularly updated
Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) Criteria	Elsevier / Scopus	Full compliance: open access, ethics, metadata, DOI

2. Immediate and Permanent Open Access

2.1 Immediacy of Access

All articles accepted for publication in IJDMDE are made freely available online immediately upon publication, with no embargo period of any kind. There is no delay between the date of publication and the date on which the full text of the article becomes publicly accessible. Access is provided simultaneously in HTML and PDF formats on the journal's website.

The journal does not operate a tiered access model in which some content is open and other content is restricted. All content — including supplementary materials, datasets, and appendices submitted alongside articles — is subject to the same immediate open-access requirement.

2.2 Permanence of Access

IJDMDE is committed to ensuring that all published articles remain permanently and continuously accessible online. The journal takes the following measures to ensure the permanence of access:

• All published articles are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) that provides a permanent, stable, and resolvable link to the article regardless of changes to the journal's hosting platform or URL structure (see Section 4 for full details on DOI policy)
• The journal maintains a continuously updated and complete archive of all published issues on its official website at https://jurnal.ut.ac.id/index.php/ijdmde 
• All articles are simultaneously deposited in one or more long-term digital preservation systems (see Section 3 for full details on preservation policy)
• In the event of any change to the journal's hosting platform, publisher, or institutional affiliation, the Editorial Board is committed to ensuring continuity of access without interruption

2.3 Format and Accessibility Standards

IJDMDE publishes all articles in formats that maximise accessibility to the broadest possible range of users, including users with disabilities and users in low-bandwidth environments:

Format	Purpose	Accessibility Feature
PDF (Portable Document Format)	Primary downloadable and printable format	High-resolution; print-ready; screen-reader compatible where possible
HTML (Full Text)	Online reading format	Responsive design; readable on mobile and tablet devices; supports text zoom
XML (JATS/NLM)	Machine-readable structured format for indexing and aggregation	Enables automated metadata extraction by Scopus, PubMed, DOAJ, and others
Supplementary Files	Raw data, appendices, multimedia	Deposited alongside the article in accessible, open formats (CSV, XLSX, MP4, etc.)

3. Digital Preservation and Long-Term Archiving

Digital preservation — the active, ongoing effort to ensure that published scholarly content remains accessible, authentic, and usable over the long term — is a core commitment of IJDMDE. The journal recognises that open access is meaningless without assured long-term availability, and has therefore established a multi-layered digital preservation strategy.

3.1 Preservation Rationale

Without formal digital preservation arrangements, published articles are vulnerable to loss through server failure, domain expiry, institutional restructuring, funding cessation, or platform obsolescence. IJDMDE mitigates these risks through the following measures, which collectively ensure that published content is preserved in multiple independent locations.

3.2 Preservation Systems and Repositories

IJDMDE deposits all published content in the following digital preservation systems and repositories:

Preservation System	Type	Scope	Mandate
LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe)	Distributed preservation network	Full journal archive, all issues	Ongoing; all articles upon publication
CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS)	Dark archive / triggered access	Full journal archive	Ongoing; triggered access upon journal cessation
Portico	Third-party digital preservation service	Full journal archive, all issues	Ongoing; all articles upon publication
Internet Archive (archive.org)	Public web archive	Journal website snapshots	Automated crawling; supplementary
PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN)	OJS-integrated distributed preservation	Full article content and metadata	Integrated via OJS platform
Institutional Repository (Universitas Terbuka)	Institutional open repository	All IJDMDE articles	Deposited upon publication

3.3 Preservation Standards and Formats

All content submitted to preservation systems meets the following technical standards to ensure long-term readability and usability:

• PDF/A (ISO 19005): the archival variant of PDF, designed for long-term preservation of electronic documents
• XML-JATS (Journal Article Tag Suite, NISO Z39.96): the international standard for the representation of journal article content in structured, machine-readable form
• Dublin Core and CrossRef metadata standards: for interoperable, machine-readable article-level metadata
• Open, non-proprietary file formats for supplementary materials wherever possible (e.g., CSV over XLSX, TXT over DOCX, PNG/TIFF over PSD)

3.4 Preservation Audit and Verification

The Editorial Board, in collaboration with the journal's technical team at Universitas Terbuka, conducts an annual audit of all preservation arrangements to verify that:

• All published articles have been successfully deposited in each of the designated preservation systems
• Deposited content is complete, authentic, and retrievable
• Preservation agreements with third-party systems (LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, Portico) remain current and active
• Any gaps in the preservation record are identified and remediated promptly

The results of the annual preservation audit are documented and retained by the Editorial Board. A summary of the journal's preservation status is published on the journal's website and updated annually.

3.5 Succession Planning

In the event that IJDMDE ceases publication for any reason, the Editorial Board commits to:

• Providing advance notice of at least 90 days to all preservation partners, indexing databases (including Scopus and DOAJ), and the journal's author community
• Ensuring that all published content is transferred to a permanent, publicly accessible archive prior to cessation
• Activating triggered-access provisions through CLOCKSS to ensure continued public availability of the complete archive
• Ensuring that all DOIs assigned to published articles remain resolvable and correctly redirect to the archived content

4. Persistent Identifier (DOI) Policy

IJDMDE uses Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) as the primary persistent identifier for all published articles. The DOI system, administered internationally by the International DOI Foundation (IDF) and operated in the scholarly publishing domain by CrossRef, provides a stable, globally unique, and permanently resolvable identifier for each article, independent of the URL or hosting platform.

 4.1 DOI Assignment

A unique CrossRef DOI is assigned to every article published in IJDMDE before or at the time of publication. DOI assignment applies to:

• All research articles, review articles, and other substantive content types
• All Correction (Erratum), Retraction, and Expression of Concern notices, which receive their own independent DOIs and are cross-linked to the original article
• Special issue content, including guest-edited volumes and themed collections

The DOI is displayed prominently on the article landing page, in the article PDF, and in all article metadata records. Authors and users are required to use the DOI — formatted as a resolvable hyperlink (https://doi.org/[DOI]) — when citing or linking to articles.

4.2 DOI Maintenance and Resolution

IJDMDE maintains an active CrossRef membership and is responsible for ensuring that all assigned DOIs remain correctly configured and resolvable at all times. Specifically:

• DOI metadata records are updated promptly whenever article information changes (e.g., correction of author name, updated page numbers, retraction notice)
• In the event of a change to the journal's hosting platform or URL structure, DOI resolution records are updated within CrossRef to redirect to the new location, ensuring uninterrupted access
• Retracted articles retain their DOIs; the DOI resolution directs users to the retraction notice and the original article record, which is clearly marked as retracted
• DOIs are never deleted or deactivated, even for retracted articles, to ensure the integrity of the scholarly citation record

4.3 Additional Persistent Identifiers

In addition to DOIs, IJDMDE supports the use of the following persistent identifiers to enhance discoverability and interoperability: 

Identifier	Scope	Purpose
ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor ID)	Author-level	Uniquely identifies authors across publications; linked in article metadata
ROR (Research Organization Registry)	Institution-level	Identifies author affiliations; supports funding compliance reporting
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)	Journal-level	Print ISSN and Electronic ISSN registered with the ISSN International Centre
CrossRef Funder Registry ID	Funding body-level	Identifies research funders in article metadata; supports open access mandate compliance

Authors are strongly encouraged to include their ORCID iD in their manuscript submission and author profile, as ORCID integration in article metadata improves attribution accuracy, supports disambiguation of authors with similar names, and is increasingly required by funding bodies and indexing databases.

5. Article-Level Metadata Sharing and Interoperability

IJDMDE is committed to making article-level metadata freely available to all indexers, aggregators, discovery systems, and databases in open, machine-readable formats. Rich, standardised, and interoperable metadata is a prerequisite for effective open-access scholarship: it enables discoverability, citation tracking, bibliometric analysis, and the integration of IJDMDE content into research workflows worldwide.

5.1 Metadata Content and Standards

IJDMDE provides complete and accurate article-level metadata for every published article. The metadata record for each article includes, at a minimum, the following elements: 

Metadata Element	Standard / Format	Source / Registry
Article title (English)	Dublin Core; JATS	Editorial record
Author name(s)	Dublin Core; JATS	Author submission; ORCID where provided
Author ORCID iD(s)	ORCID schema	Author-provided; verified via ORCID API
Author affiliation(s)	ROR; JATS	Author submission; ROR registry
Abstract (English)	Dublin Core; JATS	Author submission; editorial editing
Keywords (English)	Dublin Core; JATS	Author submission; editorial review
Publication date (online)	ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD)	Editorial record
Volume, issue, page range / article number	JATS	Editorial record
DOI	CrossRef metadata schema	CrossRef DOI registration
ISSN (print and electronic)	ISSN International Centre	Registered ISSN
Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0)	SPDX identifier; CrossRef	Applied to all articles; embedded in metadata
Funding information	CrossRef Funder Registry	Author-declared in manuscript
References (structured)	CrossRef cited-by; JATS	Author submission; CrossRef reference linking
Subject classification	Mathematics Education; distance learning taxonomy	Editorial assignment

5.2 Metadata Sharing Channels

IJDMDE shares article-level metadata through the following channels, ensuring maximum discoverability across all major academic discovery systems:

Channel / Protocol	Purpose	Update Frequency
CrossRef (DOI registration)	DOI resolution; cited-by linking; metadata deposit for all indexers	Upon publication of each article
OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting)	Automated metadata harvesting by repositories and aggregators (BASE, OpenDOAR, CORE)	Real-time (OJS-integrated)
DOAJ API and feed	Direct metadata deposit to Directory of Open Access Journals	Upon publication; monthly batch update
Scopus submission portal	Metadata and full-text submission for Scopus indexing	Per issue; upon request by Scopus
Google Scholar indexing	Discovery via Google Scholar web crawl	Automated; typically within 2–4 weeks of publication
OpenAIRE metadata harvesting	European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) integration; Horizon Europe compliance	Automated via OAI-PMH
ORCID auto-update	Automated addition of articles to author ORCID profiles	Upon CrossRef DOI registration

5.3 Metadata Quality Assurance

The Editorial Board implements the following quality assurance measures to ensure that metadata is accurate, complete, and consistent across all channels:

• All author names, affiliations, and ORCID iDs are verified against author-submitted information prior to publication
• All reference lists are checked for completeness and formatted according to journal style guidelines before metadata deposit with CrossRef
• Metadata records are reviewed for completeness against the minimum metadata checklist (see Section 5.1) before each article is published
• Any errors identified in published metadata records are corrected within five (5) business days of identification, and updated records are re-deposited with CrossRef, DOAJ, and other relevant channels
• The Editorial Board conducts an annual metadata audit to verify that all published articles have complete and accurate metadata records across all indexing channels

6. Relationship to Indexing Databases

IJDMDE actively seeks and maintains indexing in high-quality academic databases to maximise the visibility and impact of published research. The journal's open-access model and metadata practices are designed to meet the specific requirements of each indexing body.

Database / Index	Status	Key Open Access Requirements Met
Scopus (Elsevier)	Indexed / Under evaluation	Open access; DOI; CC licence; metadata; ethics; ISSN
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)	Listed	Diamond OA; no APC; CC BY-SA; preservation; ISSN; metadata
Google Scholar	Indexed	Public access; stable URLs; metadata tags; DOI
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine)	Indexed via OAI-PMH	OAI-PMH metadata; open access; DOAJ listing
CORE (Open Access Research)	Indexed via OAI-PMH	OAI-PMH metadata; CC licence; full-text availability
OpenAIRE	Indexed via OAI-PMH	OAI-PMH; CC licence; ORCID; funder metadata
ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)	Under evaluation	Open access; education focus; structured metadata
Dimensions (Digital Science)	Indexed	CrossRef DOI; open access metadata

In all cases, the journal's open-access content and metadata are made available to indexing bodies without restriction, in accordance with the principle that open-access articles should be discoverable through the broadest possible range of academic discovery tools.

7. Open Data and Research Transparency

IJDMDE strongly encourages authors to adopt open research practices beyond open-access publication of the article itself, including the open sharing of underlying research data, materials, and code. The journal recognises that open data and transparent reporting significantly enhance the reproducibility, verifiability, and reuse value of published research.

7.1 Data Availability Statement

All manuscripts submitted to IJDMDE are required to include a Data Availability Statement, located after the Conclusion and before the References section. This statement must clearly indicate one of the following:

• The data supporting the findings of this study are openly available at [repository name and DOI/URL]
• The data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author
• The study did not generate datasets that require separate archiving (e.g., theoretical or purely conceptual studies)
• Data sharing is not applicable due to ethical restrictions (e.g., participant consent limitations, privacy obligations); the nature of the restriction must be briefly explained

 7.2 Recommended Open Data Repositories

Authors who wish to share research data openly are encouraged to deposit their data in a recognised, discipline-appropriate, persistent open-access repository prior to submission. The following repositories are recommended:

Repository	Scope	Persistent ID
Zenodo (zenodo.org)	All disciplines; multidisciplinary; free	DOI (CrossRef)
OSF (Open Science Framework, osf.io)	Social and behavioural sciences; education	DOI
Harvard Dataverse (dataverse.harvard.edu)	All disciplines; strong data citation support	DOI
ERIC (eric.ed.gov)	Education datasets and grey literature	ERIC accession number
Figshare (figshare.com)	Figures, datasets, code, presentations	DOI
Institutional Repository (Universitas Terbuka)	UT-affiliated authors	Local persistent ID + OAI-PMH

7.3 Open Materials and Code

Where a study involves the use of novel research instruments (questionnaires, rubrics, tests), software, scripts, or analysis code that are relevant to replication or reuse of the research, authors are encouraged to make these materials openly available — for example, via OSF, GitHub (with a Zenodo archival snapshot), or a disciplinary repository — and to reference the repository in the article with a persistent DOI or URL.

7.4 Preregistration

For empirical studies, IJDMDE encourages authors to preregister their research design, hypotheses, and analysis plan prior to data collection on a recognised preregistration platform such as OSF Registries, AsPredicted, or PROSPERO (for systematic reviews). Where preregistration has been undertaken, authors should include the preregistration DOI or URL in the manuscript.

8. Open Access and Research Impact

IJDMDE recognises that the open-access model is not merely a matter of technical policy but has substantive implications for research impact, equity, and the advancement of mathematics education globally. The journal is committed to monitoring and communicating the impact of open-access publication on the dissemination of its content.

8.1 Article-Level Metrics

IJDMDE provides article-level usage and impact metrics on each article's landing page, including:

• Full-text downloads (PDF and HTML) since publication
• Abstract views since publication
• Citations as tracked through CrossRef Cited-By, Google Scholar, and Scopus (where indexed)
• Altmetric score (where available), reflecting online attention from social media, news outlets, blogs, and policy documents

These metrics are updated regularly and are made publicly available. The journal does not use article-level metrics as criteria for editorial decisions, in compliance with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and the Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics.

8.2 Commitment to Equity of Access

The Diamond Open Access model adopted by IJDMDE is designed to promote equitable participation in global mathematics education scholarship. The journal specifically affirms that:

• Researchers from institutions that cannot afford commercial journal subscriptions have the same access to IJDMDE content as researchers at well-resourced institutions
• Authors from all countries and institution types — including independent researchers and those without institutional affiliation — are welcome to submit and publish in IJDMDE without financial barrier
• IJDMDE actively encourages submissions from researchers in underrepresented regions, including the Global South, through its editorial outreach activities

9. Compliance with Funding Body Open Access Mandates

Many research funding bodies now require or strongly encourage that research they fund be published in open-access journals or deposited in open-access repositories. IJDMDE's publishing model is compatible with the open-access mandates of major funding bodies worldwide, including:

Funding Body / Mandate	Requirement	IJDMDE Compliance
Plan S / cOAlition S	Immediate OA; no embargo; approved licence (CC BY or CC BY-SA)	Fully compliant: immediate OA, no embargo, CC BY-SA 4.0
Horizon Europe (European Commission)	OA publication or repository deposit; CC BY preferred	Compliant: immediate OA; CC BY-SA 4.0; DOI; OpenAIRE metadata
Wellcome Trust	Immediate OA; CC BY licence	Substantially compliant: immediate OA; CC BY-SA (SA condition noted)
NIH (USA)	OA within 12 months; PubMed Central deposit	Compliant: immediate OA; authors may self-deposit in PMC
UKRI (UK Research and Innovation)	Immediate OA; CC BY; transparent reporting	Substantially compliant: immediate OA; CC BY-SA 4.0
LIPI / BRIN (Indonesia)	OA publication encouraged; national repository deposit	Fully compliant: OA; institutional repository deposit at UT

Authors who are required by their funding body to publish under a specific licence (e.g., CC BY rather than CC BY-SA) should contact the Editorial Board at the time of submission to discuss their requirements. The Editorial Board will consider reasonable requests on a case-by-case basis.

10. Transparency and Best Practice Compliance

IJDMDE adheres to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (4th edition, 2022), issued jointly by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME. This framework sets out sixteen criteria that define a transparent and trustworthy scholarly journal. The table below summarises IJDMDE's compliance with each criterion:

Criterion	IJDMDE Implementation
1. Website	Clear, professional journal website with complete policy information: jurnal.ut.ac.id/index.php/ijdmde
2. Name of journal	Unique, unambiguous journal name (IJDMDE); not confusable with established journals
3. Peer review process	Double-blind peer review; process described on journal website and in Author Guidelines
4. Ownership and management	Owned and managed by Universitas Terbuka; editorial board composition published
5. Governing body	Editorial Board with named members, affiliations, and roles published on journal website
6. Editorial team / contact information	Editor-in-Chief, Section Editors, and Editorial Board members identified with full affiliations
7. Copyright and licensing	Authors retain copyright; CC BY-SA 4.0 applied to all content; separate Copyright Policy published
8. Author fees	No APC; no submission fee; no other charges; fee policy prominently displayed
9. Process for identification of and dealing with research misconduct	Full Research Misconduct Policy published; COPE guidelines followed
10. Publication ethics	Ethics policy published; COPE membership; aligned with ICMJE recommendations
11. Publishing schedule	Biannual publication (June and December); schedule published on website
12. Access	Full diamond open access; no embargo; all content immediately and freely available
13. Archiving	Multi-system digital preservation: LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, Portico, PKP PN, institutional repository
14. Revenue sources	Institutional support from Universitas Terbuka; no APC revenue; no advertising
15. Advertising	Journal does not carry advertising of any kind
16. Direct marketing	No unsolicited or misleading author solicitation; submissions accepted only via OJS platform

11. Policy Review and Updates

This Open Access Policy will be reviewed by the Editorial Board at intervals not exceeding twelve (12) months, or sooner in response to changes in the open-access landscape, updates to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, revisions to Scopus content criteria, or changes in the policies of major funding bodies. The effective date of the current version of this policy is published on the journal website. A version history is maintained for full transparency.

 

Authors, readers, and other stakeholders are invited to submit comments or questions regarding this policy to the Editorial Office at ijdmdl@ecampus.ut.ac.id 

 

 

Issued by:
Editorial Board, International Journal of Didactic Mathematics in Distance Education (IJDMDE)
Policy Edition: 2025  |  Next Review: 2026