Open Access Policy

Copyright and Licensing Policy

This policy outlines the rights and responsibilities of authors and the publisher (HARD Publishing Company) for all manuscripts submitted to the Polish Journal of Environmental Studies (PJOES) and the Polish Journal of Environmental Studies: Politics, Economy, and Industry (PJOESPEAI).

1. Copyright Transfer

Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, authors are required to sign a Copyright Status Form. By signing this form, authors transfer the copyright of their work (including the printed version and digital files) to HARD Publishing Company. This transfer enables the publisher to:

• Reproduce the work in any form (printed and digital).
• Distribute copies of the work.
• Communicate the work publicly via digital networks (Internet).
• Include the work in databases, multimedia systems, and cloud computing platforms.

This transfer is made free of any fees to the authors, in recognition of the professional publication, indexing, and dissemination services provided by the publisher.

2. Licensing and Open Access

Both PJOES and PJOESPEAI are Gold Open Access journals. While the copyright is held by HARD Publishing Company, the works are published and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.
This means that:

• Readers may freely share and adapt the material for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate credit is given.
• Commercial use of the published work by third parties is not permitted without explicit permission from the publisher.

3. Rights Retained by Authors

Authors retain significant rights to their work for personal and professional development, provided such use is non-commercial and bears an acknowledgement of the original publication. These rights include:

• The right to revise, adapt, or prepare derivative works.
• The right to present the work orally or distribute it in print/PDF format for personal use.
• The right to self-archive the published version in institutional repositories, provided the use is consistent with the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

4. Employer Rights (Work Made for Hire)

In cases where a manuscript is prepared as a "work made for hire" for an employer:

• The employer retains the right to reproduce and distribute the work in print or digital format for internal use and business promotion.
• Such use must acknowledge the HARD Publishing Company as the publisher and must not harm the interests of the publisher.

5. Author Warranties and Integrity

By submitting a manuscript and signing the copyright form, authors certify that:

• All authors have consented to the submission and are identified correctly.
• The work is original and does not violate the rights of any third party.
• There are no conflicts of interest or disputes regarding the contribution.
• The work is free of plagiarism and scientific inaccuracies.

HARD Publishing Company reserves the right to use specialized tools (such as iThenticate and AI detection software) to verify the integrity and originality of the work.

6. Conflict of Interest Declaration

Authors must declare that there is no conflict of interest in connection with the submitted work. Signing the Copyright Status Form constitutes a valid agreement between the authors and the publisher.