Repository Policy

The Herald of the National Children's Medical Center supports the responsible self-archiving and repository dissemination of scholarly works in order to increase their accessibility, visibility, preservation, and responsible reuse.

Authors may deposit permitted versions of their manuscripts in appropriate institutional, disciplinary, funder, general-purpose, or other scholarly repositories in accordance with this policy.

The journal does not impose an embargo period on permitted self-archiving.

This policy should be read together with the journal’s Open Access Policy and Copyright and Licensing Policy.

Permitted Versions

Authors may deposit the following versions of their work:

• Preprint — the author’s version before formal peer review by the journal;
• Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) — the author’s accepted version after peer review and final revision but before the journal’s final copyediting, typesetting, and publication formatting;
• Version of Record (VoR) — the final version formally published by the journal.

Each deposited version should be clearly identified so that readers can distinguish between non-peer-reviewed, accepted, and formally published versions.

Preprints

Authors may deposit or publicly share a preprint before submission to the journal, during editorial consideration, or after submission, subject to the journal’s applicable Preprint Policy.

Posting a preprint does not by itself constitute prior publication and does not automatically prevent consideration of the manuscript by the journal.

A preprint should be clearly identified as a version that has not undergone the journal’s formal peer-review and publication process.

If the article is subsequently published by the journal, authors are encouraged to update the preprint record with:

• the full citation of the published article;
• the DOI or permanent link to the Version of Record;
• a clear statement that a peer-reviewed and published version is available.

The preprint itself should not be silently replaced in a way that obscures its publication history.

Author Accepted Manuscript

Following formal acceptance, authors may deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript in an appropriate repository without embargo.

The deposited AAM should clearly state that it is an accepted manuscript and is not necessarily identical to the journal’s final typeset Version of Record.

Once the final article is published, the repository record should, where technically possible, include the citation and DOI of the published Version of Record.

Published Version of Record

Authors may deposit and disseminate the journal’s final published Version of Record in appropriate repositories without embargo.

When the Version of Record is deposited, the repository record should clearly identify:

• the authors;
• article title;
• journal title;
• publication year, volume, issue, and article/pages where applicable;
• DOI or permanent article link;
• applicable CC BY 4.0 license.

The deposited copy should not remove or obscure the journal’s bibliographic information, copyright notice, licensing statement, DOI, correction notice, retraction notice, or other information concerning the article’s scholarly status.

No Embargo

The journal does not require authors to wait for a specified period before depositing permitted manuscript versions.

Preprints, accepted manuscripts, and published Versions of Record may therefore be deposited according to the conditions of this policy without a journal-imposed embargo.

Copyright and License

Authors retain copyright in accordance with the journal’s Copyright and Licensing Policy.

Published articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

The license permits sharing and adaptation, including for commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution is given, a reference to the license is supplied where reasonably practicable, and changes are indicated where applicable.

Repository deposit must not create additional restrictions that contradict the applicable license.

Appropriate Repositories

Authors may use repositories appropriate to their discipline, institution, funder, or research community.

These may include:

• institutional repositories;
• disciplinary or subject repositories;
• funder-mandated repositories;
• general-purpose research repositories;
• other legitimate scholarly preservation and dissemination platforms.

Where possible, repositories should provide stable access, appropriate metadata, persistent identifiers, and long-term preservation arrangements.

Personal and Academic Websites

Authors may also make permitted versions available through their personal academic or institutional profile pages, provided the version is accurately identified and the terms of the applicable license and third-party rights are respected.

For the Version of Record, authors should provide the formal citation and DOI or permanent link to the journal article.

Attribution to the Original Publication

Repository copies of published articles should acknowledge the journal as the original publication source.

For the Version of Record, the recommended attribution includes the article’s formal citation and DOI.

For an AAM, authors should indicate that the manuscript has been accepted for publication in the Herald of the National Children's Medical Center and, after publication, add the citation and DOI to the Version of Record.

Version Identification

Repository records should clearly distinguish between manuscript versions.

Recommended labels include:

• Preprint — not peer reviewed by the journal;
• Author Accepted Manuscript — accepted after peer review;
• Version of Record — final published version.

Accurate version identification helps prevent confusion concerning the status and content of the article.

Corrections and Retractions

Repository dissemination must not obscure subsequent changes to the scholarly record.

If an article is corrected, retracted, or becomes subject to an Expression of Concern or another important post-publication notice, the journal’s Version of Record and official notice remain authoritative for the article’s current publication status.

Where technically possible, authors should update repository records to link to the relevant correction, retraction, Expression of Concern, or updated Version of Record.

A retracted article must not be presented in a repository as if it remained unaffected by the retraction.

Third-Party Material

The right to deposit an article does not automatically extend to third-party content that is excluded from the article’s open license.

Figures, photographs, scales, questionnaires, illustrations, maps, instruments, or other materials may be subject to separate copyright or licensing restrictions.

Where necessary, such material should be removed from a deposited version, replaced with an appropriate reference, or used only when separate permission permits repository distribution.

Patient and Participant Information

Repository deposit does not override ethical requirements concerning patient privacy, participant confidentiality, or consent for publication.

Authors must not use repository dissemination to make identifiable or restricted patient or participant information publicly available where such disclosure would conflict with consent, ethics approval, privacy requirements, or applicable law.

Research Data and Supplementary Materials

This Repository Policy primarily concerns versions of scholarly manuscripts and articles.

Deposit and sharing of research datasets, code, protocols, supplementary materials, and other research outputs are governed by the journal’s Research Data Policy and any specific licenses, consent conditions, ethical restrictions, repository terms, or third-party rights applicable to those materials.

Funder and Institutional Requirements

Authors may comply with legitimate repository and open-access requirements imposed by their institution or research funder, provided such deposit remains consistent with:

• the journal’s copyright and licensing terms;
• the applicable CC BY 4.0 license;
• third-party rights;
• participant confidentiality and ethical requirements.

Where an institutional or funder requirement concerns a manuscript version not covered by this policy, authors should contact the editorial office before entering into conflicting arrangements.

Metadata

Repository records should contain accurate bibliographic metadata.

After publication, authors are encouraged to include:

• article title;
• author names;
• journal title;
• publication date;
• volume and issue where applicable;
• DOI;
• license information;
• link to the Version of Record.

Accurate metadata supports discovery, attribution, citation, and reliable linking between repository copies and the journal publication.

No Preferential Editorial Treatment

Repository deposit or prior lawful dissemination of a permitted version does not provide preferential treatment during peer review or editorial decision-making.

Manuscripts are evaluated according to the journal’s scientific, ethical, methodological, and editorial criteria.

Policy Application

This Repository Policy applies to manuscripts submitted to and articles published by the journal under its current Open Access and copyright model.

The journal permits authors to archive and disseminate Preprints, Author Accepted Manuscripts, and Versions of Record without a journal-imposed embargo, provided that the relevant version is accurately identified, the original publication is appropriately acknowledged, and applicable copyright, licensing, ethical, privacy, and third-party requirements are respected.