Athena: Journal of Social, Culture and Society permits authors to share preprints before submission and during editorial consideration. Posting a manuscript as a preprint does not, by itself, prevent its consideration for publication in Athena.

A preprint is a publicly available manuscript shared before formal journal peer review. It may be deposited on a preprint server or in an institutional or subject repository and may have its own persistent identifier.

A manuscript accepted after peer review is an Author’s Accepted Manuscript, while the final article published by the journal is the Version of Record. These versions should not be labelled as unreviewed preprints.

Athena does not treat a disclosed preprint as prior journal publication or as simultaneous submission to another journal. A preprint DOI does not, by itself, make a manuscript ineligible.

Posting a preprint does not authorise simultaneous consideration by multiple journals. Previously published journal articles and other overlapping publications are assessed under the Originality / Plagiarism policy.

Public availability is not evidence of peer-review approval. Preprinted manuscripts remain subject to Athena’s normal editorial assessment and published Peer Review policy.

At submission, authors must inform the editorial office of any publicly posted preprint of the manuscript and provide:

• The preprint title and hosting platform.
• Its DOI or stable URL.
• The posting date and version, where available.
• The license or distribution terms applying to that version.
• An explanation of material differences from the submitted manuscript, where relevant.

Authors must also notify the editorial office if a preprint is first posted or materially updated during consideration. Use the submission’s confidential communication channel rather than inserting identifying information into an anonymised review file contrary to Submission Requirements.

Athena imposes no embargo or journal-permission requirement on preprint posting. Authors should use a platform that clearly identifies the manuscript’s status and maintains version information.

An unreviewed version should be labelled as a preprint that has not undergone formal journal peer review. It must not be presented as accepted, endorsed, or published by Athena before the relevant decision or publication.

Posting a public preprint can make author identities discoverable. Authors should still follow the journal’s review-file preparation instructions. The journal’s identity-masking arrangements are explained in its Review Model policy.

Athena publishes its final articles under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Authors must retain or obtain sufficient rights to authorise publication under this license.

CC BY 4.0 is recommended for preprints where authors control the necessary rights, but it is not a mandatory condition for preprint eligibility. A different preprint license does not automatically prevent publication: authors must check any existing license, exclusive agreement, and third-party rights affecting their ability to license the final article.

Publication under CC BY 4.0 does not automatically relicense an earlier preprint. Rights already granted under an existing license continue according to its terms. Authors must not assume that an earlier license can be revoked by uploading a new version.

After publication, authors should update the preprint record, where the platform permits, to identify the Version of Record and provide its citation and DOI link. The preprint identifier and article DOI identify different records and should not be substituted for one another.

Athena does not require removal of the preprint as a condition of acceptance or publication. Identification of the published version is requested to help readers distinguish versions, not to restrict lawful reuse.

Substantive public comments on a preprint may be brought to the editor’s attention. Such comments do not replace the journal’s formal review process.

Authors should notify the journal of significant errors, withdrawals, or integrity notices affecting a related preprint. If the published article is later corrected or retracted, authors should update the preprint record with a link to the relevant notice where possible. Investigation and changes to the published record follow the journal’s separate integrity and correction policies.