Accessibility Policy

SMARCONS Publisher and the Medical and Life Sciences (MLS) are committed to ensuring that the journal website and published content are accessible and usable for all readers, including individuals with disabilities. MLS aims to provide an inclusive reading experience across devices, browsers, and assistive technologies by applying recognized web accessibility practices and continuously improving usability.

Where feasible, MLS works toward alignment with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which are based on the principles of making web content perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. The journal welcomes feedback from users to help identify and address accessibility barriers.

MLS publishes articles in commonly supported formats, including PDF and/or HTML through Open Journal Systems. The journal strives to make published content readable, navigable, and accessible by using clear document structure, legible typography, meaningful headings, consistent navigation, and compatibility with screen readers and keyboard navigation where applicable.

Where possible, MLS encourages the use of descriptive titles, captions, tables, figures, and alternative text to improve accessibility for readers using assistive technologies.

If a reader requires an alternative format or experiences an accessibility difficulty, such as difficulty reading PDFs, accessing figures, navigating pages, or using assistive technology, the editorial office will make reasonable efforts to provide assistance or an alternative accessible version of the content upon request.

Accessibility requests and feedback may be sent to the editorial office at mls@smarcons.com.

Open Access Statement

MLS is a fully open access journal. All articles are available online immediately upon publication, free of charge to readers and their institutions, with no embargo period and no requirement for users to register in order to access the full text.

All MLS articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Under this license, readers may share, copy, distribute, adapt, and reuse the work for lawful purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), the source is acknowledged, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made to the work are indicated.

MLS does not apply additional reuse restrictions beyond the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.

Preservation and Persistent Access

MLS supports the long-term accessibility of published content through digital preservation arrangements and persistent identifiers. The journal is published through Open Journal Systems and preserves content through recognized preservation services, including the Internet Archive and the PKP Preservation Network/LOCKSS, as stated in the journal’s Digital Archiving and Preservation Policy.

MLS also assigns persistent identifiers, such as DOIs where applicable, to support stable linking, citation, discoverability, and indexing.

This Accessibility Policy is reviewed periodically to ensure that it remains accurate and aligned with MLS's publishing practices, accessibility goals, and transparency commitments.