The Journal of Early Childhood Education (JAUD) explicitly states that the copyright for all scholarly articles published within this journal remains with the respective authors. This policy is central to our commitment to publication ethics and the recognition of researchers' intellectual contributions. While authors retain their copyright, by publishing in JAUD, they simultaneously grant the journal the right of first publication. This means that JAUD serves as the initial and official platform for making the work publicly available, but fundamental control over the intellectual property itself rests with its creators. Thus, we ensure that authors' original efforts and ideas are properly valued and protected.
Furthermore, as part of our open access model, upon publication in JAUD, authors also agree that their work will be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). The granting of this license permits anyone to copy, distribute, display, and perform the copyrighted work and derivative works based on the article. The main condition is that users must provide proper attribution to the original authors. This statement explicitly informs users that while authors hold the copyright, they have consciously chosen to share their work widely under the condition of attribution, thereby encouraging broader dissemination and use of knowledge without unnecessary restrictions.
This copyright notice also serves as an official declaration for all individuals or institutions accessing and using content from JAUD. It clarifies that, although the journal facilitates open access and dissemination, commercial use or adaptations without proper attribution constitute a violation of the license terms and the authors' copyright. JAUD expects all users to respect these terms to uphold academic integrity and publication ethics. In this way, this copyright statement supports an open, responsible, and intellectually respectful scholarly publishing ecosystem.
