Digital preservation policies

Digital Preservation Policy

IPSUMTEC Journal, published by the Instituto Tecnológico de Milpa Alta, part of the Tecnológico Nacional de México (TecNM), recognizes digital preservation as an essential component of its editorial mission, aimed at ensuring the long-term availability, integrity, authenticity, and accessibility of published academic content.

Objective

To ensure that articles, complementary data, supplementary materials, and associated metadata remain retrievable, readable, and verifiable over time, even in the face of technological change, infrastructure failures, or platform migrations.

Principles

Integrity: preserved files retain their original structure and content, verified through periodic integrity controls (checksums).
Authenticity: each record is accompanied by identifying metadata (DOI/Handle or another persistent identifier), version tracking, and provenance evidence.
Availability: content remains publicly accessible whenever possible and recoverable in the event of incidents.
Readability and portability: open or widely supported formats are used (PDF/A, XML, EPUB), with migrations planned as needed.
Redundancy: storage is replicated across multiple locations to minimize the risk of data loss.

Technical Strategies and Actions

Redundant storage: content is stored on institutional servers and replicated through collaborative preservation networks.
Encapsulation and metadata: all digital objects are preserved together with descriptive, technical, and administrative metadata (Dublin Core / CrossRef / DataCite, as applicable).
Integrity verification: checksums (MD5/SHA-256) are generated and periodically verified to detect and correct file corruption.
Migration and format refreshment: format migrations and preventive actions are planned to avoid technological obsolescence.
Version control: full traceability is maintained (preprint, accepted version, published version), recording the date and author of each modification.
Backup and recovery: regular automated backups are performed, with defined retention policies and periodic restoration testing.

Preservation Systems and Networks

To strengthen its preservation mechanisms, IPSUMTEC uses and interacts with internationally recognized networks and services:

LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe): a peer-to-peer distributed digital preservation system developed by Stanford University Libraries, enabling the creation of replicated archives across participating libraries for preservation and restoration purposes. More information: https://www.lockss.org
PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN): a free digital preservation service for journals using Open Journal Systems (OJS), developed by the Public Knowledge Project. More information: https://pkp.sfu.ca/software/ojs/pkp-pn/
Persistent identifiers: each article is assigned a persistent identifier (DOI or Handle) that facilitates its location, citation, and metadata-level preservation.
Indexers and repositories: articles are deposited and registered in visibility and preservation services such as Google Scholar, LATINDEX, Dialnet, and MIAR, reinforcing their availability and discoverability.

Metadata and Accessibility

IPSUMTEC publishes structured metadata (Dublin Core / CrossRef / schema.org) for each article and enables the OAI-PMH protocol on its OJS platform to facilitate harvesting, indexing, and third-party preservation. In addition, the content license (CC BY 4.0) is included in article-level metadata to support reuse and interoperability.

Responsibilities

Editorial Committee: defines the overall policy and approves its annual revisions.
Technical team / Institutional library: implements and maintains backups, integrity checks, migrations, and communication with preservation networks.
Preservation officer: designated individual or group responsible for coordinating periodic audits, restoration tests, and relations with external services (LOCKSS, PKP PN).

Audit and Review

This policy will be reviewed at least once a year, through technical audits and periodic restoration tests to ensure that preserved copies remain retrievable and readable.

References and Related Links