Copyright, preservation and corrections

About the initiative

Wasl al-Athar is an independent, volunteer-run, non-profit initiative that preserves scholarly and educational websites published online, protects historical material from loss where possible, and helps present and future readers access it.

The project serves public knowledge and makes it freely accessible. It does not sell preserved content or claim ownership of it. Any financial support is used for preservation, development, operations and review under the initiative’s policies.

Intellectual property

All moral and financial rights to articles, books, audio, video, images, manuscripts and other works remain with their lawful authors, publishers and rights holders.

The initiative does not claim ownership of the historical content it documents or represent original sites or their former operators unless a documented authorization says otherwise. We aim to record each item’s source, stated author, publication date and historical copy, while respecting reuse terms, licences and permissions.

How the archive works

Historical material is displayed when publication is authorized, for preservation, documentation, research and access to knowledge. We distinguish the original historical copy from later editorial work or corrections so recent changes are not attributed to the original author.

Good intentions, non-commercial use and source attribution do not replace permission or another legal basis for republishing full text. Until permission is established, we provide metadata and links to the archived copy.

Request removal or correction

If you hold rights to a displayed item or are authorized to represent its rights holder, you can request:

• Removal of an item from public display.
• Correction of an author, source or publication detail.
• An update to copyright or reuse information.
• An official link or clarification.
• Review of material you believe was published without appropriate permission.
• Review of a privacy, scholarly or citation concern.

How requests are handled

We handle serious requests respectfully and confidentially, and aim to confirm receipt within three business days. Credible urgent reports are prioritized. A reliable rights claim may lead to a temporary pause while we review it. After review, we may remove the item, correct its metadata, add a clarification or request more information.

When an item is removed, it and its derived records are removed from public pages, search results, sitemaps and cache. Historical texts are not silently changed. Corrections are documented in a separate editorial layer, or the displayed copy is removed when appropriate.

Independence

The initiative is not an official representative of preserved sites, authors or publishers unless a documented partnership or approval says otherwise. A site name, logo or historical link does not imply sponsorship or endorsement.

This policy describes the initiative’s commitments and request process. It does not replace permissions or legal licences required to publish protected material.