Terms of Use
Welcome to the Open Veterinary Journal (OVJ) website. These Terms of Use govern access to and use of the OVJ website, published content, online services, and related resources.
By accessing or using the website, users agree to comply with these Terms of Use and all applicable laws and regulations. If you do not agree with these terms, please discontinue use of the website.
These Terms of Use should be read together with the OVJ Open Access Policy, Privacy Policy, Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Policy, and other applicable journal policies.
1. Scope of These Terms
These Terms of Use apply to visitors, readers, authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and other users of the OVJ website and related online services.
Different rights and obligations may apply to authors, reviewers, editors, and other participants in the publication process under the applicable journal policies, publishing agreements, submission-system terms, and licenses.
Where these Terms of Use conflict with the applicable Creative Commons license governing published articles, the Creative Commons license will control with respect to rights in those articles.
2. Use of Published Articles
2.1. Open Access
OVJ is a fully open-access journal. Published articles are made freely available to readers without subscription or access charges.
Unless otherwise specifically stated, published articles are distributed under the:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
2.2. Rights Under CC BY-NC 4.0
Subject to the terms of the applicable Creative Commons license, users may reproduce, share, distribute, and adapt licensed article content for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate attribution is given and the applicable license terms are respected.
Users should:
appropriately identify the original authors;
cite the original article;
provide attribution to the Open Veterinary Journal;
include or link to the applicable license information where appropriate;
indicate if changes were made; and
comply with the NonCommercial restriction and other terms of CC BY-NC 4.0.
The Creative Commons license does not grant permission to use OVJ's trademarks, logos, or other separately protected materials merely because they appear in a licensed article.
2.3. Commercial Use
Commercial use of material published under CC BY-NC 4.0 is not permitted under that license unless separate permission or another applicable legal authorization has been obtained.
Users seeking commercial use of article content should contact OVJ or the relevant copyright holder to determine whether permission is available.
2.4. Third-Party Material
Some content included in an article may belong to third parties and may not be covered by the article's Creative Commons license.
Users are responsible for identifying and respecting any third-party copyright, permissions, privacy rights, trademarks, or other applicable rights.
3. Website Content and Intellectual Property
The OVJ website contains both openly licensed scholarly content and materials that may be protected by copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights.
Unless otherwise stated:
the Open Veterinary Journal name and logo;
website design and graphical elements;
trademarks and service marks;
proprietary website content;
software and technical components;
databases and website functionality; and
other materials not covered by the applicable Creative Commons license
remain protected by applicable intellectual property laws.
Nothing in these Terms of Use grants users ownership of such materials.
Users may not reproduce, modify, distribute, publicly display, or commercially exploit proprietary website materials without appropriate authorization, except where such use is permitted by applicable law.
4. Personal, Educational, and Research Use
Users may access and use the website and its content for legitimate personal, educational, teaching, research, and scholarly purposes, subject to the applicable copyright and licensing terms.
Users may download and print articles for permitted purposes and may share links to OVJ articles and website pages.
Citation and attribution should be provided whenever OVJ content is used in scholarly, educational, or other permitted contexts.
5. Acceptable Use
Users must use the website and its services lawfully, ethically, and responsibly.
Users must not:
violate applicable laws or regulations;
attempt to gain unauthorized access to the website, submission system, servers, databases, or other systems;
introduce or distribute viruses, malware, malicious code, or other harmful software;
interfere with the normal operation or security of the website;
use automated systems to abuse, overload, scrape, or disrupt the website or its services in violation of applicable restrictions;
impersonate another person or organization;
engage in fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading activities;
use the website to harass, threaten, or unlawfully harm others;
attempt to circumvent access controls or security measures; or
use journal content or services for purposes that violate applicable law or the rights of others.
OVJ may take appropriate action when it reasonably believes that these Terms of Use or applicable laws have been violated.
6. User-Submitted Content
Certain areas of the OVJ website or related services may permit users to submit content, information, correspondence, reviews, comments, manuscripts, or other materials.
Users retain ownership of their intellectual property rights in content they submit, subject to the applicable publishing agreement, submission-system terms, Creative Commons license, or other authorization governing that content.
By submitting content to OVJ, users grant the journal and its publisher the rights reasonably necessary to receive, process, evaluate, edit, publish, distribute, archive, preserve, and otherwise manage that content for legitimate journal and publication purposes, subject to the applicable publishing agreement and license.
Authors should not submit material that:
infringes another person's copyright or intellectual property rights;
contains unlawfully disclosed confidential or personal information;
contains fabricated or falsified information;
violates applicable ethical or legal requirements; or
otherwise violates the journal's publication policies.
7. Manuscript Submission System
OVJ uses eJManager as its manuscript submission and editorial-management system.
Authors, reviewers, and other users of the submission system must comply with:
OVJ policies and instructions;
applicable eJManager terms and policies;
confidentiality requirements;
publication ethics requirements; and
applicable data-protection and intellectual property requirements.
Manuscripts submitted through eJManager remain subject to the applicable author rights, publishing agreement, copyright arrangements, and journal policies.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts and supporting materials are accurate, original, ethically obtained, and appropriately authorized for submission.
8. Peer-Review Confidentiality
Materials submitted for peer review may contain confidential, unpublished, proprietary, or otherwise sensitive information.
Users involved in peer review, including reviewers and editors, must maintain the confidentiality of such materials and must not use confidential manuscript information for personal or professional advantage.
The confidentiality requirements of the OVJ peer-review process apply in addition to these Terms of Use and the journal's publication ethics policies.
9. External Links and Third-Party Services
The OVJ website may contain links to external websites, databases, repositories, indexing services, scholarly resources, or third-party platforms.
Such external websites and services are operated independently of OVJ. OVJ does not necessarily endorse or control their content, availability, security, privacy practices, or terms of use.
Users should review the terms and privacy policies applicable to third-party websites before using them.
10. Website Availability
OVJ seeks to maintain reliable and continuous access to its website and online services but does not guarantee that the website will always be available or uninterrupted.
Temporary unavailability may result from:
maintenance;
software or hardware failures;
security measures;
technical problems;
updates or upgrades;
network or hosting problems; or
circumstances beyond the reasonable control of OVJ.
OVJ may temporarily suspend, modify, or discontinue particular website features or services when reasonably necessary.
11. Accuracy and Reliability of Information
OVJ makes reasonable efforts to maintain accurate and up-to-date information on its website.
However, the website and its content are provided for scholarly, educational, informational, and research purposes. OVJ does not warrant that all website information will always be complete, current, error-free, or continuously available.
Scientific articles represent the views and findings of their authors. Publication of an article does not necessarily mean that OVJ or its editors endorse every statement, conclusion, method, or interpretation contained in the article.
Readers are responsible for evaluating and appropriately applying scientific information.
12. No Professional or Medical Advice
Information published on the OVJ website is intended for scientific, educational, and scholarly purposes and should not be regarded as a substitute for professional veterinary, medical, legal, or other professional advice.
Clinical or scientific decisions should be made by appropriately qualified professionals using relevant evidence, professional judgment, applicable regulations, and the circumstances of the individual case.
13. Limitation of Liability
To the extent permitted by applicable law, OVJ, its publisher, editors, editorial board members, employees, and agents will not be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or other losses arising from use of or inability to use the website or its content.
Nothing in these Terms of Use is intended to exclude or limit liability where such exclusion or limitation is prohibited by applicable law.
14. Indemnification
To the extent permitted by applicable law, users are responsible for losses, claims, liabilities, or reasonable expenses arising from their unlawful use of the website, violation of these Terms of Use, infringement of third-party rights, or violation of applicable laws or regulations.
Nothing in this section limits any rights or remedies available under applicable law.
15. Suspension or Termination of Access
OVJ may restrict, suspend, or terminate a user's access to particular website services where reasonably necessary because of:
violation of these Terms of Use;
unlawful or abusive activity;
security risks;
interference with website operations;
misuse of journal or submission-system services; or
other circumstances requiring protective or corrective action.
Where appropriate and reasonably practicable, OVJ may provide notice or an explanation of the action.
Suspension or termination of website access does not affect rights or obligations that have already arisen under applicable publishing agreements, licenses, or publication policies.
16. Editorial Independence
These Terms of Use do not affect the editorial independence of OVJ.
Editorial decisions, including decisions concerning peer review, acceptance, rejection, correction, expression of concern, and retraction, are governed by the journal's editorial and publication ethics policies.
Editorial decisions are not determined by website usage, commercial interests, advertising, or other external influence.
OVJ currently does not accept or display commercial advertising.
17. Privacy and Data Protection
Use of the OVJ website and submission services may involve the processing of personal information.
OVJ handles personal information in accordance with its applicable Privacy Policy and relevant legal and regulatory requirements.
Users should avoid submitting unnecessary personal, confidential, or sensitive information through public areas of the website.
18. Changes to These Terms
OVJ may periodically revise these Terms of Use to reflect changes in its services, publication practices, technology, legal requirements, or applicable standards.
The updated version will be published on the OVJ website and will become effective upon publication unless otherwise stated.
Users are encouraged to review the Terms of Use periodically.
19. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms of Use are governed by the laws applicable in the State of Libya, unless applicable mandatory law provides otherwise.
Subject to any applicable legal requirements concerning jurisdiction or dispute resolution, disputes arising from these Terms of Use shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the competent courts of Libya.
20. Severability
If any provision of these Terms of Use is determined to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, that provision shall be interpreted or modified to the extent necessary to make it enforceable where legally permissible.
The invalidity or unenforceability of one provision will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.
21. Entire Terms
These Terms of Use, together with the applicable OVJ policies, publishing agreements, licenses, and terms governing specific journal services, constitute the framework governing use of the OVJ website and services.
Where a specific publishing agreement, Creative Commons license, or other applicable legal instrument provides different rights or obligations, that instrument will govern the subject matter to which it applies.
22. Acceptance of These Terms
By accessing or using the OVJ website, users acknowledge that they have read and understood these Terms of Use and agree to comply with them.
Continued use of the website following publication of revised Terms of Use constitutes acceptance of the revised terms, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
