Interlibrary loan (ILL) & text and data mining (TDM)

How libraries and researchers may share and reuse IUMS journal content for interlibrary loan (ILL) and text and data mining (TDM), while respecting copyright, open access licences, user privacy and technical controls.

Applies to all IUMS journal content and platforms
Policy v1.0 – last updated April 2025
Related policies: Copyright, open access & reuse · APCs, waivers & funding · Archiving & indexer readiness · Preprints, postprints & article sharing · Research data & code sharing · Accessibility

1 Scope & objectives

Supporting access, discovery and responsible reuse of IUMS content.

IUMS journals aim to maximise the reach and impact of published research while protecting authors’ rights, respecting licences and maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. This policy sets out how:

  • libraries may share content with users at other institutions via interlibrary loan (ILL) and document supply; and
  • researchers, institutions and partners may perform text and data mining (TDM) on IUMS journal content.

The policy applies primarily to content hosted at en-journals.iums.ac.ir and related platforms operated by or on behalf of IUMS journals. It should be read together with the Copyright, open access & reuse and Research data & code sharing policies.

2 Key definitions

What we mean by ILL, TDM and related terms.

For the purposes of this policy:

  • Interlibrary loan (ILL): the non-commercial, library-to-library transfer of articles or chapters, usually in response to a request from an individual library user, for the purpose of research, teaching or study.
  • Document supply: a similar concept to ILL, sometimes including central or national services that supply copies to authorised libraries.
  • Text and data mining (TDM): computational analysis of text, data, images or other content—often in bulk— to discover patterns, trends or relationships that are not apparent from manual reading.
  • Open access (OA) content: articles and other materials that are made freely available online under a licence that permits certain reuse, typically Creative Commons licences.
  • Non-commercial use: activities primarily for research, teaching or personal study, not aimed at direct commercial advantage or revenue generation.

3 Relationship to copyright & open access

How this policy fits with reuse licences and rights.

Most IUMS journals publish articles as open access under Creative Commons or similar licences. The exact reuse rights depend on:

This ILL & TDM policy does not reduce or override rights granted under applicable licences. Instead, it:

  • clarifies how ILL and TDM may be carried out within those rights;
  • sets expectations about technical access routes and good practice;
  • highlights when additional permission may be required (for example, some commercial TDM projects).

When in doubt, users should check the licence displayed on the article page and, where needed, contact the journal or the IUMS permissions office (see Section 14).

4 Interlibrary loan (ILL) for libraries & document supply

How libraries may share IUMS journal content with other institutions.

IUMS journals support responsible interlibrary loan and document supply as part of scholarly communication. Libraries may, in response to specific requests from individual users at other institutions:

  • provide copies of individual articles or book chapters; and
  • use secure delivery methods (for example, password-protected links or time-limited access) that prevent uncontrolled redistribution.

ILL services should:

  • operate on a non-commercial basis;
  • provide copies for the personal research, teaching or study of the requesting user;
  • respect the terms of the relevant author licence and any national library exceptions.

5 ILL for open access content

Applying ILL principles to openly licensed articles.

For fully open access IUMS journals:

  • the version of record (VoR) is typically available free of charge on the journal website;
  • libraries are encouraged to direct users to the official article page via DOI rather than supplying local copies, to ensure access to the latest version and related materials;
  • where users have limited internet connectivity, libraries may provide local copies of OA articles in line with the article’s Creative Commons licence.

In many cases, ILL for OA content is effectively replaced by direct access from any location. However, library mediation can still be helpful for:

  • metadata quality and discovery;
  • training users how to interpret licences and reuse conditions;
  • supporting users who need accessible or alternative formats.

6 ILL limits & good practice

Avoiding systematic distribution and misuse.

ILL and document supply should not be used to provide:

  • systematic or large-scale distribution of IUMS content to another institution as a substitute for a licence or subscription;
  • bulk downloads of issues or entire journal runs;
  • copies for commercial document delivery services that charge beyond cost-recovery, unless permitted by the applicable licences.

Where ILL copies are supplied:

  • libraries should inform users of the licence and any restrictions on further sharing;
  • copies should not be altered in ways that remove licence information, citation details or disclaimers;
  • usage statistics and privacy should be handled in line with institutional policies and the IUMS Consent & privacy policy.

7 Text and data mining (TDM) for research & education

Encouraging TDM while protecting services and rights.

IUMS journals recognise the importance of TDM for biomedical and health research, for example:

  • systematic reviews and meta-research;
  • natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning;
  • evidence mapping and guideline development;
  • monitoring of trends in clinical practice or public health.

Non-commercial TDM projects conducted by researchers at academic, clinical or not-for-profit institutions are generally permitted on IUMS journal content, provided that:

  • the applicable article licence is respected; and
  • access is obtained through approved technical routes that do not overload or compromise journal platforms.

8 Access routes, technical controls & APIs

How to obtain content for TDM in a sustainable way.

To protect site stability and ensure fair access for all users, TDM should not be carried out via:

  • aggressive scraping of the public website;
  • automated scripts that ignore robots directives or rate limits;
  • methods that bypass access controls or compromise security.

Instead, researchers are encouraged to:

  • use machine-readable metadata and content provided by IUMS journals, where available (for example, via export tools or APIs);
  • work with institutional libraries, which may already have workflows for TDM access and local storage;
  • contact the IUMS TDM support team for larger projects or high-volume harvesting, especially if millions of records or repeated queries are planned.

For major TDM projects, early communication helps avoid service disruption and can improve data quality and format for researchers.

9 Licences, copyright & reuse of TDM outputs

What TDM allows—and what it does not.

When performing TDM on IUMS content, users must distinguish between:

  • underlying content: articles, figures and supplementary materials, which remain subject to copyright and the specific licence listed on the article; and
  • TDM outputs: such as extracted facts, statistics, models or trained parameters.

In general:

  • facts, insights and statistics derived from TDM may be reused and published, provided that appropriate citation is given to underlying sources;
  • substantial reproduction of original text, images or tables in TDM outputs must comply with the underlying article licences and, where required, obtain permission;
  • training machine learning models on OA content is usually compatible with non-commercial licences, but downstream commercial deployment may require extra consideration.

Authors of TDM-based publications should:

  • describe their corpus and methods clearly;
  • cite IUMS journal articles used as sources where appropriate;
  • respect any legal or ethical restrictions on sensitive content, images or patient information.

10 TDM, privacy & sensitive data

Protecting individuals while mining clinical and research content.

Although IUMS journals require that patient and participant information be appropriately anonymised and consented, TDM projects may:

  • aggregate large volumes of clinical or case data; or
  • combine published content with other datasets.

Researchers performing TDM on IUMS content must:

  • comply with applicable laws and institutional policies on data protection and privacy;
  • respect any restrictions stated in article-level consent, privacy or data-sharing statements;
  • avoid attempts to re-identify individuals from aggregated published data;
  • obtain additional ethics approval where required (for example, for certain linkage studies or sensitive topics).

For general principles, see the Consent & privacy and Research ethics & integrity policies.

11 Commercial TDM & large-scale reuse

When additional permissions or agreements may be needed.

Some TDM activities clearly fall within non-commercial research and are covered by open access licences or applicable legal exceptions. However, additional permission or a separate agreement may be required when:

  • TDM is carried out by or on behalf of commercial entities for product development, paid services or competitive intelligence;
  • large-scale redistribution of full text or enriched datasets is planned, beyond the terms of the underlying licences;
  • machine-generated outputs closely replicate or substitute for access to the original content.

Organisations planning commercial or large-scale TDM projects on IUMS content are strongly encouraged to contact the IUMS permissions and TDM team in advance (see Section 14) to discuss suitable options.

12 Responsibilities of libraries & users

Shared responsibility for compliant and sustainable reuse.

Libraries and users who engage in ILL or TDM involving IUMS content are expected to:

  • review and follow this ILL & TDM policy, as well as the Copyright and Data sharing policies;
  • respect technical measures (rate limits, access controls, robots directives) designed to protect journal services;
  • implement appropriate security and privacy measures when storing local copies or derived datasets;
  • avoid practices that could mislead others about the source, status or licensing of IUMS content.

Institutions are encouraged to provide guidance and infrastructure for responsible TDM, including secure environments, logging and compliance checks.

13 Misuse, security & service protection

How we respond to harmful or non-compliant behaviour.

IUMS journals reserve the right to take reasonable technical and legal steps to protect their platforms and content, including when:

  • automated access causes significant degradation of service for other users;
  • scraping or TDM disregards published technical guidelines or robots directives;
  • content is reused in ways that clearly violate licences, harm authors’ rights or misrepresent the journals.

Possible actions may include:

  • rate limiting or temporarily blocking abusive IP addresses;
  • contacting the responsible institution or organisation;
  • requesting correction or withdrawal of non-compliant uses;
  • in serious cases, considering legal remedies.

These measures are aimed at protecting service quality and legal compliance, not at preventing legitimate scholarly TDM or library services carried out in line with this policy.

14 Questions & permissions contact

Getting help with ILL and TDM plans.

Libraries, researchers and organisations planning ILL or TDM activities that may fall outside routine use—especially large-scale harvesting, commercial projects or complex cross-border arrangements—are encouraged to contact us in advance.

For enquiries about this policy, specific ILL arrangements or proposals for TDM projects involving IUMS journal content, please use:

Policy version: v1.0 – last updated April 2025. This policy may be updated as legal frameworks, open science practices and technical standards evolve.