Offer Agreement | Acta Biologica Sibirica

PUBLIC OFFER

on the conclusion of a license agreement and an agreement for paid services for the editorial and publishing preparation and publication of a scientific article

Limited Liability Company "Biodiv-Print" (hereinafter referred to as the Publisher’s Representative), acting on the basis of an service agreement dated October 2026 No. on behalf of and in the interests of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Altai State University" (hereinafter referred to as the Publisher), on the one hand, offers an unlimited circle of persons (hereinafter referred to as the Customer), on the other hand, to conclude this agreement (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement) on the editorial and publishing preparation of scientific materials (hereinafter referred to as the Article) and its publication in the scientific journal Acta Biologica Sibirica (hereinafter referred to as the Journal) under the terms and conditions set forth below.

1. General Provisions

1.1. This Document, in accordance with Clause 2, Article 437 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter the CC RF), constitutes a public offer (hereinafter the Offer). Full and unconditional acceptance (acceptance) of the Offer, in accordance with Article 438 of the CC RF, is deemed to be the performance by the Customer of the conclusive actions specified in Section 6 of this Agreement.

1.2. This Agreement governs the licensing relations (grant of the right to use the work) and the relations for the provision of paid services arising between the Parties during the preparation and publication of the Article in the Journal. 1.3. The use of the Journal's materials by third parties is governed by the Creative Commons "Attribution" (CC BY) 4.0 International license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

2. Terms and Definitions

Publisher – Altai State University, being the founder and publisher of the Journal, holding the rights to its publication and distribution.
Publisher’s Representative – LLC "Biodiv-Print", acting in the interests of the Publisher on the basis of the respective agreement, providing operational, technical, and organizational support for the publication process.
Author – the natural person(s) whose creative labor has created the Article.
Customer – the Author who has accepted the terms of this Offer, and/or a person representing their interests (including a scientific supervisor or an organization), who has accepted the terms of the Offer and, in cases provided for by the Journal's rules, pays the Article Processing Charge for the publication of the Article.
Acceptance of the Offer – full and unconditional acceptance of the Offer by performing the actions specified in Section 6 of this Agreement.
Parties – collectively referred to as the Customer, the Publisher, and the Publisher’s Representative.
Journal – the scientific journal Acta Biologica Sibirica.
Submission – the Customer's electronic application to the Publisher’s Representative for the publication of the Article in the Journal via the submission system on the website https://journal.asu.ru/biol/submissions or via the Journal's e-mail.
Article Processing Charge (APC) – the monetary amount payable by the Customer to the Publisher (via the Publisher’s Representative) exclusively after the actual publication of the Article in the Journal, as remuneration for the rendered complex of editorial and publishing services.
Service – a complex of actions by the Publisher’s Representative for the preparation and publication of the Article based on the Submission: organizing peer review, scientific and technical editing, proofreading and language editing, resolving formal remarks, preparing the final layout, and publishing the Article in the Journal.

3. Subject Matter of the Agreement

3.1. Under this Agreement, the Customer grants the Publisher, on a free-of-charge basis (with respect to the transfer of rights), for the term of the copyright provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation, a non-exclusive right (license) to use the Article for its publication in the Journal and the placement of the published materials on the Journal's Website and in other databases. The Publisher’s Representative acts in this capacity as an authorized representative of the Publisher.

3.2. The rights to use the Article granted under this Agreement include, but are not limited to: – reproduction of the Article in any material form; – distribution of the Article as part of the Journal and/or in the databases of the Publisher or third parties worldwide; – making the Article available to the general public via the Internet; – placement of the Article's materials and metadata in international electronic databases and citation indexing systems; – assigning an International Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to the Article.

3.3. Rights not expressly granted to the Publisher under this Agreement (including patent rights to the described methods, as well as trademark rights) remain with the Customer and/or the Authors.

3.4. The provision of Services under this Agreement commences upon Acceptance of the Offer. The transfer of rights to use the Article (the license) enters into force upon the Editorial Board's decision to accept the Article for publication.

3.5. The transfer of rights to use the Article is free of charge. The Services for editorial and publishing preparation are provided on a paid basis (subject to the APC), unless otherwise explicitly stated on the Journal's Website for specific categories of authors or articles. All financial settlements are made with the Publisher’s Representative acting in the interests of the Publisher.

3.6. The Customer's obligation to pay the APC arises exclusively after the actual publication of the Article (placement of the full-text version and metadata on the Journal's Website as part of an issue). No funds shall be collected from the Customer prior to publication.

3.7. If the Editorial Board decides to reject the Article, this Agreement is terminated in the part concerning the license, and the Customer incurs no financial obligations.

4. General Conditions for Services and Payment Procedure

4.1. The Publisher’s Representative provides the Services only if the following conditions are met: – the Customer has submitted materials complying with the Offer and the Author Guidelines; – the Customer has accepted the Offer.

4.2. If the materials are submitted in violation of the requirements, the Publisher’s Representative reserves the right to return them to the Customer for revision or refuse to consider them.

4.3. After the actual publication of the Article, the Publisher’s Representative generates and sends an invoice for the APC to the Customer (to the e-mail address specified in the Submission).

4.4. The Customer undertakes to pay the issued invoice within 30 working days from the date of its receipt. The date of payment is the date the funds are credited to the bank account of the Publisher’s Representative. 4.5. The Publisher’s Representative shall not be liable for the unauthorized use of data provided by the Customer by third parties prior to the official publication of the Article.

5. Rights and Obligations of the Parties

5.1. The Customer warrants that: – it is the legitimate rightsholder of the exclusive rights to the Article and/or has obtained all necessary consents from the co-authors to conclude this Agreement; – at the time of submission, the Article is not under consideration by any other editorial boards; – the Article contains all references to cited sources required by copyright law; – all necessary permissions for the use of borrowed materials have been obtained; – the Article does not contain materials prohibited for open publication, and its distribution will not lead to the disclosure of legally protected secrets.

5.2. The Customer undertakes to: – submit the Article materials in accordance with the Author Guidelines; – incorporate the revisions requested by the reviewers and approved by the Editorial Board within the specified deadlines; – refrain from using the typeset electronic copy of the Article prepared by the Publisher in other publications without the Publisher's consent.

5.3. The Publisher (through its Editorial Board) undertakes to: – consider the Article in accordance with the Journal's rules; – publish the Article in the Journal, provided the Customer complies with the requirements and a positive peer-review decision is obtained.

5.4. The Publisher’s Representative undertakes to: – organize the process of receiving, peer-reviewing, and editorial processing of the Article; – respect the rights of the Customer and Authors provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

5.5. The Publisher’s Representative has the right to: – perform technical and literary editing of the Article without altering its core scientific content; – conduct a preliminary formal examination of the Article; – unilaterally refuse to consider the Article if it does not match the Journal's scope or grossly violates formatting requirements.

6. Acceptance of the Offer and Conclusion of the Agreement

6.1. This Agreement is deemed concluded and enters into force from the moment the Customer accepts the Offer, which is recognized as the submission of the Article and all necessary accompanying documents (including checking the box agreeing to the Offer terms electronically) via the author's personal account on the Journal's Website or via the Journal's e-mail. 6.2. The Agreement is valid for an unlimited term or until terminated in accordance with Section 7.

7. Amendment and Termination of the Agreement

7.1. The Publisher’s Representative has the right to unilaterally amend the terms of this Offer by posting its new version on the Journal's Website. Amendments enter into force upon posting, but do not apply to Articles already accepted for consideration or publication at the time of such amendments.

7.2. If the Customer disagrees with the amendments, they have the right to refuse the Agreement. The absence of a written notice of refusal within 10 working days from the posting of the new version is deemed as the Customer's consent to the amendments.

7.3. Withdrawal from the Agreement after the official publication of the Article in the Journal is not permitted. 7.4. The fact of publication of the Article is the placement of its metadata and full-text version (in pdf, html, xml formats) on the Journal's Website as part of the current or upcoming issue.

8. Liability of the Parties

8.1. For non-performance or improper performance of obligations, the Parties bear liability in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

8.2. The Customer bears full responsibility for compliance with copyright, advertising, and personal data protection laws.

8.3. The Publisher and the Publisher’s Representative shall not be liable for the Customer's losses arising from the Customer's unlawful actions, nor for the Customer's failure to fulfill obligations to co-authors.

8.4. In case of violation of the payment deadline specified in Clause 4.4, the Publisher’s Representative has the right to charge a penalty of 0.1% of the outstanding amount for each day of delay, but not exceeding 10% of the total amount.

8.5. In case of non-payment of the APC within [30] calendar days after the invoice is issued, the Publisher’s Representative has the right to unilaterally, out of court: – suspend access to the full-text version of the Article on the Journal's Website; – initiate the retraction of the Article with the publication of a Retraction Note stating the reason: "violation of the agreement terms regarding payment for publishing services"; – demand compensation for documented actual costs incurred for organizing peer review, editing, and technical preparation.

8.6. The Author warrants that the Article text contains no technical or software modifications aimed at distorting plagiarism check results. If such modifications are detected, the Article shall be immediately rejected or retracted in accordance with COPE guidelines. In this case, the Services are deemed fully rendered, the APC remains fully due and payable, and the Author undertakes to compensate the Publisher and/or the Publisher’s Representative for documented costs associated with the retraction. 8.7. Published articles violating the norms of publication ethics may be retracted by the Publisher unilaterally with the publication of a Retraction Note.

9. Dispute Resolution

9.1. Disputes shall be resolved through negotiations, and failing agreement, in court at the location of the Publisher (Barnaul, Russian Federation) in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

10. Miscellaneous

10.1. Any notices shall be deemed received if sent via the Journal's Website, the e-mail address specified in the Submission, or other means allowing the sender to be reliably identified.

10.2. In case of third-party claims against the Publisher or the Publisher’s Representative regarding IP infringement in the creation of the Article, the Customer undertakes to immediately settle the dispute, join the proceedings on the side of the Publisher/Representative, and reimburse all legal costs, damages, and sums paid to third parties.

10.3. In accordance with Article 6 of Federal Law No. 152-FZ "On Personal Data" dated July 27, 2006, the Customer consents and warrants having obtained such consents from all represented persons to the processing of their personal data by the Publisher and the Publisher’s Representative for the execution of this Agreement.

10.4. The Customer may withdraw consent to personal data processing by notifying the Publisher’s Representative. In this case, the Publisher’s Representative has the right to suspend the Services and withdraw the Article from the publication process.