Open Access Policy

Open Access Commitment

Creative Saplings is fully committed to the principles of Open Access and to the free, unrestricted dissemination of scholarly research. The journal operates on a Diamond Open Access model: there are no subscription fees for readers, no Article Processing Charges (APCs) for authors, and no hidden costs of any kind. The journal is funded entirely by the Society for Academic Facilitation and Extension (Regd.), a registered non-profit organisation.

All content published in Creative Saplings is freely and permanently accessible to the public. Readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of all articles without prior permission from the publisher or authors, subject to the licence terms stated below.
§  Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain full copyright in their own work. Creative Saplings does not claim copyright over published content. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

What is Permitted Detail
✓ Share Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes.
✓ Adapt Remix, transform, and build upon the material for non-commercial purposes.
✓ Cite Quote, cite, and reference published content with proper attribution to the original authors and source.
✗ Commercial Use The material may not be used for commercial purposes without the express written consent of the copyright holder (the author).

Attribution requirement: Proper credit must be given to the original author(s), the article title, and the journal (Creative Saplings, ISSN: 0974-536X), with a link to the original article's DOI where available. Full licence terms: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
§  Author Rights and Self-Archiving

Authors retain full copyright and grant Creative Saplings only the non-exclusive right to publish and distribute the work under the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence. Authors are free to:

●  Archive the published version (Version of Record) in any open-access institutional or subject repository.

●  Post the article on personal or institutional websites, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, or similar platforms.

●  Include the article in theses, dissertations, or other academic works, with appropriate citation.

●  Distribute copies for teaching or research purposes, provided the original source is credited.

By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that they hold the right to publish it, that the work is original and does not infringe any third-party rights, and that they agree to the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.
§  Digital Preservation and Long-Term Availability

Creative Saplings is committed to the long-term availability of all published content. To prevent server failure and ensure permanent access, the journal's digital content is preserved through the following archiving systems:

Archive Details
LOCKSS Permanent distributed archiving via the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) network, with copies maintained on servers in the USA, UK, India, and multiple libraries worldwide.
PKP PLN Preserved via the PKP Private LOCKSS Network (PKP PLN), operated by the Public Knowledge Project through the OJS/PKP Preservation Archival System.
Archive-It Web archiving partnership with Archive-It, ensuring permanent access to the journal's digital content as part of the Internet Archive's scholarly preservation mission.
Crossref DOI Every published article is registered with Crossref and assigned a permanent Digital Object Identifier (DOI) with prefix 10.56062, ensuring persistent, globally resolvable access. Only the articles published before 2022 are not assigned DOIs.

No Article Processing Charges (APC):  Creative Saplings charges no submission fees, article processing fees, or publication fees of any kind. The journal is funded by the Society for Academic Facilitation and Extension (Regd.), a registered non-profit organisation dedicated to facilitating open scholarly communication. This Diamond Open Access model ensures that financial constraints do not limit the ability of scholars — particularly those from low- and middle-income countries — to publish or access research.