Purpose and Scope
This policy governs commercial arrangements entered into by LMI or its journals — advertising, sponsorship, sponsored collections, marketing, commercial partnerships, reprints and licensing of promotional use — and the safeguards separating them from scholarly decisions. It is a publisher policy because these arrangements are made at publisher level; journals comply with it and display commercial material only in accordance with it.
Commercial Independence
The editorial-independence guarantee in A3 governs and is not restated here. Its application to commercial arrangements is that no advertiser, sponsor, partner, purchaser of reprints or other commercial party shall have, or be given, any of the following:
- authority or influence over the selection, review, acceptance, rejection, priority or scheduling of any manuscript;
- influence over the selection of reviewers or editors;
- influence over any record action, including correction, Expression of Concern, retraction or removal (G2);
- any right of review, approval, comment or advance sight of editorial content before publication;
- access to confidential editorial information — submissions, review reports, decisions, author or reviewer data — by reason of a commercial relationship (A5).
No commercial relationship shall be entered into, and none continued, on terms inconsistent with this section. A decision to accept or refuse a commercial arrangement shall never be made in exchange for, or in expectation of, editorial content favourable to that party; nor shall editorial content be withheld or altered because it is unwelcome to an advertiser or sponsor.
Advertising
Where advertising is accepted, it shall be clearly distinguishable from scholarly content by design, placement and labelling, so that no reader could mistake it for editorial material or for content endorsed by the journal. Advertisements shall not be interleaved with an article so as to imply a connection to its subject matter, and shall not be placed adjacent to content on the same specific topic where that placement would imply endorsement.
LMI may refuse or withdraw any advertisement, and shall refuse advertising that: is unlawful; is false, misleading or unsubstantiated; promotes products or practices that are harmful, or health claims unsupported by evidence; is discriminatory or offensive; or is otherwise inconsistent with scholarly integrity or LMI's standards. Responsibility for accepting advertising rests with LMI and not with editorial personnel, and no editorial decision shall be a condition of accepting or declining any advertisement.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship of a journal, collection, event or activity is permitted where it is disclosed and where the sponsor acquires no editorial authority. Sponsorship shall be disclosed wherever a reader could otherwise be unaware of it, including on any sponsored collection and in the published articles it contains. Sponsored special issues and collections are additionally governed by B3, including guest-editor safeguards and the prohibition on collections being purchased. A sponsor may fund; it may not select, approve, review or veto.
Marketing and Use of Editorial Identities
Names, photographs, titles, affiliations and editorial-board membership of editors, board members and reviewers shall not be used in advertising, sponsorship materials or commercial endorsements without that person's permission, and never in a manner implying that the person, the journal or LMI endorses a commercial product or service. Marketing of LMI journals shall accurately describe their scope, model, charges, review process and indexing status; claims of recognition, indexing or affiliation shall be truthful and current (H3), and claims of membership, accreditation or endorsement shall not be made unless independently established.
Direct Marketing, Calls for Papers and Contact Use
Calls for papers, email campaigns, conference promotion and direct approaches to authors or reviewers shall identify LMI or the journal accurately, describe the journal’s scope and process truthfully, and avoid urgency, flattery, repeated unsolicited contact or language implying guaranteed or purchased publication. Contact details collected for submissions, peer review or editorial service shall not be repurposed for unrelated marketing without a lawful and transparent basis. Purchased, scraped or unverifiable contact lists shall not be used where their acquisition or use would be misleading, intrusive or unlawful.
Promotional, Indexing, Speed and Acceptance Claims
Promotional statements shall be specific, current and verifiable. A submitted or pending application shall never be presented as indexing, recognition, accreditation or membership; the controlling rule is Regulatory, Recognition & External-Standards Compliance Assurance (H3). Publication-speed claims shall identify what is measured and the period represented, and shall not imply a guaranteed decision or publication date. Acceptance rates shall be published only where derived from defined, reproducible records and shall not be used to suggest that payment or personal approach improves the probability of acceptance. Testimonials and endorsements shall be genuine, authorised and not edited so as to misrepresent the speaker’s meaning.
Social Media, Press Releases and Media Embargoes
Social-media posts, press releases and media briefings shall distinguish promotional summary from the scholarly article, link to the Version of Record where available, avoid exaggeration beyond the evidence, disclose relevant sponsorship, and be corrected promptly when materially inaccurate. An embargo may coordinate responsible communication but shall not give a commercial party editorial control or privileged ability to alter content. Authors may communicate with the media, but neither LMI nor a journal shall require them to make claims inconsistent with the article.
Metrics and Responsible Research Assessment
Journal-, article- and author-level metrics shall be reported with their source, date or period, and material limitations. No metric - including citation counts, impact indicators, downloads, views, attention scores or rankings - shall be presented as a complete measure of research quality, integrity or an individual’s contribution. LMI and its journals shall support responsible research assessment by considering the substance and diverse contributions of work rather than using journal-level metrics as automatic proxies. Artificial downloads, coordinated engagement, citation trading or other manipulation are prohibited under Publication, Citation & Process Manipulation (C3).
Fair Access and Commercial Complaints
Commercial arrangements shall not create unfair barriers for authors or readers. Publication-charge access is governed by Publication Charges, Waivers & Financial Integrity (F2), and reader access by Open Access, Copyright & Licensing (F1). Complaints about advertising, sponsorship, marketing or misleading claims shall have a findable route, be assessed independently of the commercial party concerned, and result in correction or removal of promotional material where warranted.
Reprints and Commercial Reuse
Commercial reprints and licensed copies shall reproduce the Version of Record accurately and completely, preserving attribution, licence information, competing-interest and funding statements, and any correction, Expression of Concern or retraction notice attaching to the article at the time of supply (G1, G2). Selective reprinting of parts of an article, or supply of copies that obscure or omit subsequent record actions, is prohibited. Where an article is subject to record action after reprints have been supplied, LMI shall inform the purchaser and shall cease supplying superseded copies. Ordinary non-commercial reuse by readers is governed by the article licence (F1).
Records and Assurance
LMI shall maintain records of commercial arrangements sufficient to demonstrate compliance with this policy, and shall include commercial independence within monitoring and transparency reporting under H2.
Standards and Guidance
Informed by WAME and ICMJE guidance on advertising, sponsorship and the separation of commercial and editorial functions; the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing; and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) on responsible use of metrics.