Long-term digital preservation and archiving
The archiving and preservation of digital scholarly material – final published articles, manuscripts, supplementary data, code, statistics etc. – is a vital part of the scholarly publishing process. Digital archiving and preservation developed from analogue services traditionally carried out by libraries.
Archiving is a way of ensuring that digital and digitized materials are stored safely so that they can be:
- accessed in perpetuity regardless of what happens to the original publication;
- always found using a persistent identifier;
- used to restore another version which may have disappeared.
We recommend that journals are archived through preservation and archiving services. You can check what content is being actively preserved in some archives by looking in the Keepers Registry. There you can also find information about the partner archiving organisations, whether open or dark, and useful statistics. Keepers Registry data is also available for reuse.
Preservation is a way of storing digital and digitized materials to ensure that their quality and integrity do not deteriorate and that they may be accessed and used in the future.
Some of the better-known examples of dedicated archiving services which offer both archiving and long-term preservation are listed by the Keepers Registry. There are many others which can serve a particular country, institution or academic community.
Digital legal deposit is a viable archiving and preservation option that may be in force in certain countries. It may be implemented by the national library and other national cultural organisations. It is also considered a viable archiving and preservation option.
Submitting published digital content to an archiving service may be offered/organised by the publisher and thus benefit the author.