Last updated: May 9, 2026
White & Gray Publishers supports responsible open access to scholarly knowledge. This Open Access Policy explains how published research may be accessed, shared, reused, archived, and supported through article processing charges or other publication funding arrangements.
This policy applies at publisher level. Specific journals, books, editions, articles, or publishing agreements may include additional or more specific access, licensing, copyright, APC, or archiving terms. Where a journal-specific policy differs from this general policy, the journal-specific terms will apply to that publication.
1. Purpose of Open Access
Open access is intended to improve the visibility, availability, and impact of scholarly work by allowing readers to access published research without unnecessary barriers. White & Gray Publishers supports open access practices that promote academic integrity, proper attribution, ethical publishing, and responsible reuse of scholarly content.
2. Access to Published Content
Where an article, journal issue, book chapter, or other scholarly work is published as open access, readers may access the published version online without subscription payment or reader-side access fees. Access may be provided through the White & Gray Publishers website, journal pages, indexing platforms, institutional repositories, or approved archiving services.
Some publications or resources may not be open access, or may be subject to separate access terms, embargoes, permissions, or purchase requirements. The applicable access status should be indicated on the relevant journal, edition, article, book, or policy page.
3. Licensing and Reuse
Open access content may be published under a Creative Commons license or another stated license. The applicable license determines how readers may copy, share, adapt, translate, text-mine, distribute, or otherwise reuse the work.
Unless a specific license is clearly stated on the article or publication page, users should not assume unrestricted reuse. Users must always:
- Credit the author(s), title, journal or publication, publisher, DOI or permanent link where available, and the applicable license.
- Indicate whether changes were made when adapting or reusing content.
- Respect third-party materials, images, datasets, tables, or figures that may have separate permission requirements.
- Avoid plagiarism, misrepresentation, false endorsement, unlawful use, or reuse that breaches ethical or legal obligations.
4. Author Rights
Authors retain rights in their scholarly work subject to the applicable publishing agreement, copyright statement, journal policy, and open access license. Where open access publication is agreed, authors may generally share and promote the published work in accordance with the applicable license and citation requirements.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts, images, figures, datasets, and supplementary materials do not infringe third-party rights and that permissions have been obtained where required.
5. Copyright
Copyright ownership and publication rights may vary by journal, article, book, edition, agreement, or license. Copyright information should be stated in the article, issue, journal policy, or publishing agreement where applicable.
Open access does not mean that copyright no longer applies. It means that the copyright holder has granted defined access and reuse permissions under stated terms.
6. Article Processing Charges
Some open access publications may require an article processing charge ("APC") to support editorial administration, peer-review coordination, production, hosting, metadata preparation, indexing support, archiving, and platform maintenance. APCs are normally charged to authors, institutions, funders, or sponsors rather than readers.
APC requirements may vary by journal, edition, article type, waiver decision, or funding arrangement. Where APC applies, the amount, currency, payment timing, waiver availability, and payment instructions should be communicated through the relevant journal, edition, invoice, or author dashboard.
Payment of an APC does not guarantee acceptance. Editorial acceptance is based on suitability, peer review, editorial standards, ethical compliance, and production readiness. Where APC is required, payment may be requested only at the stage defined by the editorial workflow and must be cleared or waived before the manuscript proceeds beyond the payment-controlled stage.
7. Waivers and Discounts
White & Gray Publishers may consider APC waivers or discounts where available and appropriate. Waiver decisions may depend on journal policy, edition rules, author circumstances, institutional arrangements, funding availability, editorial discretion, or publisher approval.
Requests for waivers or discounts should be made transparently and as early as possible. A waiver request does not influence the editorial assessment, peer review, or acceptance decision.
8. Peer Review and Editorial Independence
Open access publication does not compromise peer review or editorial independence. Manuscripts are evaluated according to journal scope, suitability, originality, ethical compliance, methodological quality, scholarly contribution, reviewer feedback, and editorial judgment.
Editorial decisions are made independently of APC payment status. APC payment, waiver approval, institutional funding, or sponsorship does not guarantee publication.
9. Archiving and Repository Deposit
Authors may be permitted to deposit accepted or published versions of their work in institutional repositories, funder repositories, personal academic profiles, or recognized scholarly archives, subject to the applicable journal policy, publication version, embargo terms, and license conditions.
Where allowed, repository deposits should include full citation details, the published source, DOI or permanent link where available, and the applicable license or copyright statement.
10. Reader Responsibilities
Readers may access open access content for research, teaching, learning, professional practice, policy, and other lawful purposes. Readers must cite sources properly, respect license terms, avoid misuse, and not alter or redistribute content in a misleading, unlawful, defamatory, or unethical manner.
11. Third-Party Content
Published works may include third-party materials such as images, figures, tables, maps, datasets, survey instruments, excerpts, or media. These materials may not be covered by the same open access license as the article or chapter. Users are responsible for checking credit lines, permissions, and license notices before reusing third-party content.
12. Text and Data Mining
Text and data mining may be permitted for open access content where allowed by the applicable license and technical platform rules. Automated access must be lawful, respectful of server capacity, properly attributed, and must not compromise security, privacy, copyright, or platform stability.
13. Corrections, Retractions, and Updates
Open access publications remain subject to editorial correction, expression of concern, retraction, withdrawal, or update where required by scholarly integrity, legal obligations, ethical standards, or publisher policy. Access to correction or retraction notices should be maintained where possible to preserve the scholarly record.
14. Journal-Specific Policies
Each journal may maintain its own open access statement, APC policy, copyright statement, licensing terms, peer-review policy, ethics policy, archiving policy, and author guidelines. Authors and readers should review the relevant journal pages before submitting, paying APCs, depositing manuscripts, or reusing published content.
15. Policy Updates
White & Gray Publishers may update this Open Access Policy from time to time to reflect changes in publishing standards, journal practices, licensing arrangements, funder requirements, APC workflows, or legal obligations. Updates will be posted on this page with a revised "Last updated" date.
16. Contact Us
For questions about open access, reuse permissions, APCs, waivers, repository deposit, or journal-specific access terms, please contact:
Email: info@whiteandgraypublishers.com
Address: P. O. Box 25454, Ggaba, Kampala, Uganda