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Institute Hellenic DiasporaΙΝΣΤΙΤΟΥΤΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΔΙΑΣΠΟΡΑΣ

The Open Hellenic Library

Publication Policy

How the Library translates, checks, labels, releases, and corrects its editions, and the rights rules every edition must satisfy.

Our publishing philosophy

Access Before Perfection.

For generations, important works of Hellenic political, philosophical, and cultural thought have remained inaccessible to English-speaking audiences.

Traditional translation and academic publication require significant time, funding, and specialized resources. Consequently, many historically significant works receive little attention outside their original language.

Artificial intelligence creates an opportunity to change this.

The IHD Open Hellenic Library uses AI to accelerate the translation and publication of neglected public-domain Hellenic works.

Our approach prioritizes accessibility, documented quality control, transparency, and continuous improvement.

Rather than requiring every translation to reach the standards of a definitive scholarly edition before publication, we make carefully checked, clearly labeled AI translations freely available and improve them through documented revisions.

We recognize that AI translations can contain errors, misinterpretations, and historical inaccuracies. Our editions are not represented as definitive or independently human-verified unless such verification has actually occurred.

We believe that responsibly disclosed, imperfect access can offer meaningful value where no accessible translation previously existed.

Our publications are living editions: open to examination, correction, and improvement.

Guiding principles

  1. Access Before Perfection

    A transparently labeled translation that makes an otherwise inaccessible work readable can provide substantial public value even when further improvement remains possible.

  2. AI-First Translation

    Artificial intelligence is our primary translation and initial editorial instrument. Qualified human scholarly review is welcome but not required.

  3. Transparent Methods

    We disclose how translations were produced, what quality checks were performed, and whether human reviewers participated.

  4. Documented Quality Control

    Every publication must meet a defined baseline of completeness, source verification, translation review, and uncertainty disclosure. Speed must not mean knowingly publishing unchecked or materially misleading text.

  5. Living Editions

    Translations are versioned, documented, and open to correction. Material revisions are recorded rather than silently replacing earlier releases.

  6. Open Intellectual Access

    All published works must be freely readable and downloadable without subscriptions or paywalls, subject to the underlying rights and licensing requirements.

  7. Intellectual Independence

    Publishing a historical work does not imply IHD's endorsement of its political, philosophical, religious, or cultural positions.

Edition classifications

Default

IHD AI Edition

An English translation produced using artificial intelligence, evaluated through documented AI quality-control procedures, and released without mandatory qualified-human scholarly review.

This becomes the Library's default publication category.

Requirements

  • Verified eligible public-domain source material
  • Complete source transcription or reliably established source text
  • Full English translation
  • Independent AI quality-control pass or passes
  • Documented review of omissions and material translation uncertainties
  • Clear acknowledgment of unresolved interpretive problems
  • Identification of source editions and bibliographic documentation
  • The AI-Generated Edition notice and a record of AI involvement in every production activity
  • Version number and publication date
  • File integrity: every released file pinned by size and checksum
  • Correction and revision mechanism
  • A recorded institutional release authorization of the specified version

An IHD AI Edition must be clearly labeled as such throughout the publication, with a prominent front-matter notice and a concise running notice or publication identifier.

Optional

IHD Scholarly Edition

An edition that has undergone substantive qualified-human scholarly review and received documented approval for the specific reviewed version.

This category is optional and may be introduced as the Library develops.

  • Human scholarly review and DOI registration are optional for an IHD AI Edition.
  • Release requires a recorded, explicit institutional authorization by the Institute Hellenic Diaspora to publish a specified version and its files. No handwritten or electronic signature, personal copyright attestation, or named signing editor is required, and an AI system's recommendation is never treated as authorization.
  • No personal copyright declaration, CC0 affirmation, or legal attestation is part of the workflow, and no person is described as the author, translator, scholarly reviewer, or rights creator of work performed by AI.
  • Where applicable law, a contract, or an external repository actually requires an authorized human representative, that requirement is identified explicitly; it is never met by an invented signature or silently bypassed.
  • An IHD AI Edition is not elevated to an IHD Scholarly Edition because a scholar has commented on it.
  • AI quality control is never described as peer review or human scholarly review.
  • Human review, where it occurs, does not guarantee accuracy.

Publication workflow

  1. Source Discovery

    Identify historically significant works, their source editions, and their existing translation availability.

  2. Bibliographic and Rights Verification

    Verify the original work, publication history, usable source material, and applicable copyright status.

  3. Digitization and Text Establishment

    Transcribe or prepare the original Greek text, record source references, and identify material textual variants.

  4. AI Translation

    Produce a complete English translation, documenting major terminology choices, historical ambiguities, and difficult passages.

  5. Independent AI Quality Control

    Review the translation against the original Greek using a separately executed AI evaluation process.

    Check for

    • Omissions
    • Added or invented material
    • Misinterpretations
    • Inconsistent terminology
    • Historical and cultural mistranslations
    • Problems with proper names
    • Unresolved source-text ambiguities
    • Meaning-changing stylistic decisions

    Independence must be described accurately. A separate agent or pass is not necessarily independent if it shares the same model, context, or assumptions. Record the actual review method.

  6. Editorial Adjudication

    Evaluate and resolve identified issues or disclose unresolved uncertainties. Release requires a recorded institutional authorization; the AI system's own assertion that the draft passed is not sufficient.

    This is editorial oversight, not a mandatory scholarly approval requirement.

  7. Open Publication

    Release the translation as an IHD AI Edition with the AI-Generated Edition notice, full methodological disclosure, source references, version information, and rights statements.

  8. Continuous Improvement

    Accept documented corrections and issue new versions when needed.

Human scholarly contributions may be incorporated at any stage but cannot automatically become a mandatory gate.

AI publication disclosure

The Library is explicitly AI-native: every published edition makes AI involvement readily identifiable, distinguishing AI-generated work, AI-assisted work, and any independently verified human contribution as the production records show. Each edition displays this notice prominently; lengthy disclaimers are not repeated on every page, and listings carry a concise notice instead.

AI-Generated Edition

This edition was produced through an artificial-intelligence-based editorial process, including translation, textual analysis, preparation of supporting materials, and quality control.

The edition has not undergone independent human scholarly review.

AI systems can make transcription, translation, factual, and interpretive errors. Readers are encouraged to consult the original source material and report suspected inaccuracies.

Institute Hellenic Diaspora makes these materials freely accessible as part of an open, continuously improving publishing program.

The standard notice, as it appears on each published IHD AI Edition.

AI involvement is recorded for

  • Greek transcription
  • Textual comparison and collation
  • English translation
  • Editorial introduction
  • Historical and explanatory notes
  • Glossary
  • Bibliography preparation and verification
  • Quality-control reviews
  • Adjudication of translation issues
  • Publication-file production

The disclosure appears in

  • The Library homepage and this policy
  • Collection and work pages where AI-produced material exists
  • Published edition pages and download listings
  • PDF front matter and publication metadata
  • EPUB front matter and package metadata
  • HTML reading editions
  • Suggested citations and bibliographic descriptions, with the AI Edition designation
  • External repository descriptions, including Zenodo deposits
  • Revision histories and methodological statements

Living editions

Each edition is released in numbered versions. Version 1.0 is the initial release. A minor correction issues a new minor or patch version (1.1, or 1.0.1), and a substantive revision issues a new major version (2.0).

Every version records its own date, change summary, classification, translation method, AI involvement, quality-control record, release authorization, and rights. Its record shows when the edition was first published, which version is current, an editorial change log, and the history of corrections.

Earlier versions are preserved with their files and archival references. A new version never silently replaces a released one, and each version can be cited on its own.

Each edition names the channel for reporting corrections. Every report is logged with the affected passage, the decision taken, its date, and the version that incorporates it. The Library publishes no edition until that channel is in place.

Report a correction to join@institutehellenicdiaspora.org

Three separate questions

Rights assessment
A documented finding that identified historical source materials may lawfully be reproduced in the intended jurisdictions.
Copyright ownership
IHD does not assert exclusive copyright in the AI-generated material.
Publication authorization
An institutional decision to release a particular edition and its files.

Sources and rights

  1. Public-domain source works only.

  2. Verify rights in the relevant jurisdictions before publication.

  3. Treat modern translations, editorial introductions, annotations, and digitized editions as potentially separately protected.

  4. Do not assume that a freely accessible scan is freely reusable.

  5. Settle the rights in each relevant jurisdiction by a documented rights assessment, supported by reliable bibliographic and legal evidence and adopted by a recorded institutional decision. No signature or legal attestation is required.

  6. Reserve legal review for uncertain or complex cases; a lawyer's opinion is not required for every public-domain work.

  7. Never mark source rights as verified until that assessment is complete and adopted.

  8. Disclose how each translation was produced, and identify human contributors and reviewers accurately where they actually participate. No edition implies that a human translator or academic reviewer performed work done by AI.

  9. Keep separately protected human contributions and third-party material distinct. Apply CC0 only where the actual rightsholder has validly authorized that dedication, and never in anyone else's name.

  10. Do not assume that AI-generated text qualifies for copyright protection, and do not assert rights or licenses the Library cannot establish.

  11. Institute Hellenic Diaspora asserts no exclusive copyright in the AI-generated translation and editorial material it publishes. Reuse of that material is unrestricted by IHD. Accurate citation is encouraged for scholarly purposes, but attribution is never a condition of reuse.

  12. A lack of copyright claims is not proof that an edition is public domain. Underlying source materials and separately identified third-party contributions retain their respective legal status, and no PDF or EPUB is described as wholly public domain unless the rights assessment supports it.

  13. Clearly distinguish historical primary sources from institutional positions.

  14. Never represent an edition as definitive or human-verified unless that verification has actually occurred.

Rights are tracked separately for

  • Copyright in the original work
  • Copyright in modern editions or editorial additions
  • Rights in existing translations
  • Rights or licensing permissions associated with any human contributions to new translations
  • Whether AI-generated content qualifies for copyright protection in the relevant jurisdiction

Publication and archiving

Each edition will be published on this website, with its catalog record, metadata, online text where available, and downloadable files where available.

Archival copies are intended to be deposited with Zenodo, which provides persistent DOI identifiers, version history, and citation for scholarly discovery. Further archives, such as the Internet Archive, may be added.

A DOI is shown only once an archive has issued it.

Every external repository description, including each Zenodo deposit, carries the AI-Generated Edition notice and the AI Edition designation. Where a repository requires an authorized human representative to make a deposit, that requirement is identified explicitly.

No archival records exist yet.

Institutional principle

IHD exists to make neglected Hellenic intellectual works accessible, not to claim ownership of intellectual work created by artificial intelligence.

Full AI transparency is mandatory. Exclusive copyright claims over AI-generated material are not part of our publishing model.

Closing statement

Access before perfection.

Transparency before authority.

Continuous improvement over permanent inaccessibility.

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