The problem is that the copyright is not with the journal, but with the publisher. Even when the publisher ceased work, very often another publisher has bought the rights. Therefore, you have to ask for permission to republish your paper. Please take also into account the printed version of the journal, if there was such. The electronic depository may have deleted, but the printed version is still in libraries. Instead of republishing your papers, you may try to upload it to repositories, among these also ResearchGate, if copyright allows or after having got permission from the publisher. - See also this discussion and the links therein: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_the_availability_of_digital_journals_be_ensured_in_the_long_term.

Hi,

If there is no new publisher to this journal, I do not see why not publish an article that otherwise could "vanish" from the publication map. It also depends how many years have passed since your paper was published. The more years (say, around 10 years), the better is the chance to publish your paper safely anew.

Wolfgang is correct. Assuming you assigned copyright in the paper to the then publisher, then that publisher owns the rights to it and you are NOT free to republish it. If the publisher has since gone out of business, it might have transferred all the copyrights it owned to another body, or if it did not, then your paper is a classic orphan work - in copyright but with no known owner (the owner is NOT you). Either way it's infringement if you republish, but the chances of anyone suddenly appearing and suing you for infringement is low in the case of an orphan work, rather higher if the copyright was transferred to another publisher. So this is a judgement call for you; republish and risk getting sued, or don't republish.

Ideally, copyright of the paper should rest with the author only. Publisher should at best claim a right for the compilation. In all matters regarding publication, publishers defeat miserably authors and institutions. Many hoped that publishing should come vigorously under institutions in the aftermath of electronic publishing due to the presence of editors, reviewers and authors in plenty in universities and laboratories.

V. K. J. Jeevan : Indeed, ideally all rights remain with the author only. However, most publishers insist on transmitting rights to them, otherwise they will not publish your paper or book. The law is also complicated and depend on the country. E.g., in Germany there is not "copyright" in laws, only rights of the creator and rights of the publisher. Some rights of the creators always rest with them, but others may be transferred to the publisher. - One is always on the save side when asking for permission of the publisher. Only in rare cases the contract between the author and the publisher is formulated in such a way that all rights remain with the author.