Authors who publish in Sustainability in Civil Engineering journal retain full copyright of their work without restrictions. By submitting to SCEJ, authors agree to publish their work under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. This license allows others to copy, redistribute, and build upon the work for any purpose, as long as the original authors are credited and the new work is shared under the same license.

Retaining copyright allows authors to use their research in future projects, include it in their teaching materials, or distribute it freely to colleagues. At the same time, the CC BY-SA 4.0 license encourages the collaborative nature of engineering by allowing other researchers to develop new innovations based on the published data. This "ShareAlike" provision ensures that all derivative works remain open and beneficial to the global scientific community.

Upon acceptance, authors grant PT. Cendikia Publikasi Indonesia a non-exclusive right to be the first publisher of the article. Authors are also encouraged to link back to the official published version of the article on the SCEJ website whenever they share their work. This licensing framework provides a fair balance between protecting author rights and promoting the widespread dissemination of sustainable engineering knowledge.