Policy Glossary

A citable notice adding supplementary information to an article that remains valid and uncorrected. Not to be used where an error requires a correction or where a concern warrants an Expression of Concern or retraction.

Paid promotional content displayed by a journal or LMI, required to be clearly distinguishable from scholarly content and subject to publisher acceptance standards.

An instrument withdrawn without replacement, retained for historical and assurance purposes and marked as no longer current.

A charge levied for publication services after acceptance, disclosed in full before submission, whose payment has no influence on any editorial decision.

A computational system performing tasks that would otherwise require human judgement or authorship.

The activity of establishing, on the basis of evidence, whether policies are implemented in practice. It examines process and confers no editorial authority.

A structured, documented examination of specified activity against defined requirements, conducted proportionately to risk, producing findings and, where required, corrective action.

A person meeting the authorship criteria of C1, named as responsible for the work and accountable for its integrity.

A verified change to the name displayed in the scholarly record, implemented where reasonably possible without requiring public disclosure of the personal reason and without being used to conceal an integrity concern.

The status of being named as an author, entailing substantive contribution, approval of the published version and continuing accountability.

An organised collection of human biological specimens and associated data maintained under documented consent, ethics and governance arrangements for current or future research.

Containment principles, technologies and practices preventing unintentional exposure to, or release of, biological agents.

Measures preventing loss, theft, misuse, diversion or intentional release of biological agents, related materials or associated information.

Consent permitting a defined range of future research uses under stated governance conditions. It is not unrestricted consent and does not authorise uses outside the scope communicated to participants.

The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, the standard licence for LMI research content, permitting copying, redistribution, adaptation and commercial use subject to appropriate credit, a link to the licence and indication of changes.

Conduct intended to inflate citation counts other than by genuine scholarly citation, including citation cartels, undisclosed reciprocal arrangements and addition of excessive or irrelevant references.

A prospective study assigning human participants to interventions to evaluate health-related effects, as understood in recognised international definitions.

Participation of an additional person in preparing a review. Permitted only with the journal's permission and with transparent attribution of the contribution.

Any request or requirement that citations be added other than for genuine scholarly reasons, whether made by a reviewer, an editor or a third party.

The separation of all commercial arrangements from scholarly decisions, such that no commercial party acquires influence over selection, review, publication or record action, or access to confidential editorial information.

Data, specimens, knowledge or remains subject to legitimate collective, cultural, Indigenous or custodial governance in addition to any individual consent requirements.

A financial, personal, professional, academic, ideological, political or institutional relationship or circumstance that could reasonably be perceived to influence a person's judgement or conduct in relation to a submission, publication or decision. Proof of actual bias is not required; holding a disclosed interest is not itself misconduct.

Records generated in the ordinary course of publishing that demonstrate whether a requirement was met, retained and provided for assurance purposes.

Unpublished manuscripts and data, review reports, reviewer identities (per the declared peer-review model), editorial deliberations, and complaint or investigation materials, until lawfully published or properly disclosed.

Explicit, specific and documented consent to the publication of identifiable information, images or case details, given with knowledge that publication will be public and permanent. Distinct from, and not implied by, consent to participate.

A person who contributed to the work, whether or not qualifying as an author; non-author contributors are acknowledged under C1.

An arrangement under which data are discoverable and documented but released only through a defined approval process, such as a data-access committee or data-use agreement, adopted where privacy, consent, legal, commercial or community-governance limits preclude open release.

The legal rights subsisting in an original work, retained by the authors (or their employer or funder where law or agreement so provides) and not transferred to LMI by publication.

A citable notice, linked to the article, recording an error materially affecting accuracy, understanding, attribution or metadata where the work remains reliable and its conclusions stand. Distinct from production repairs that cannot affect interpretation, which require no notice.

A documented remedy for identified non-compliance, specifying the action, the responsible role and the completion date, with verified completion.

A documented response that corrects identified non-compliance and, where reasonably possible, addresses its causes to reduce recurrence, with responsible roles, deadlines and verified closure.

The author designated to communicate with the journal, confirm co-author qualification and consent, manage required declarations, and respond to post-publication questions, without reduction of other authors' accountability.

A standardised public copyright licence whose authoritative terms are those published by Creative Commons and which LMI applies without modification.

A service enabling readers to identify an article’s current status and any updates attaching to it. It records what has happened to an article; it does not certify the reliability of the research.

A published instrument in force, on or after its effective date and not superseded or archived.

A statement accompanying a research article specifying whether underlying data are available, where and under what conditions they may be accessed, or the specific reason they cannot be shared and any lawful route for access.

Arrangements ensuring published content, its supplementary materials and its notices remain accessible independently of any single platform or organisation, through deposit with recognised preservation services, redundancy, durable formats and periodic migration.

A timely, specific, written statement of an interest to the party entitled to assess it, identifying its nature, the parties and the relevant period. Generic or unspecific statements do not satisfy the requirement.

The system of identifiers, versions, approval records, effective dates, review dates, statuses and supersession history by which the framework is governed.

A persistent identifier registered with a recognised agency, resolving reliably to published content or to its status page, never reassigned to different content, and carrying metadata maintained for the life of the record.

Research reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, products or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat to public health, safety, agriculture, the environment or security.

Publication of substantially the same work in more than one venue without disclosure and justification.

The person holding ultimate editorial authority and accountability for a journal's scholarly content and editorial standards.

The scholarly decision power over content — review, acceptance, rejection and record action — vested in a journal's designated editorial leadership under A3, exercisable personally or by documented delegation.

The body of appointed persons who support a journal's scholarly and ethical objectives under documented roles and terms. Board membership entails continuing responsibility and confers no publication entitlement in the journal.

Publication in a journal of content authored or co-authored by its own serving editorial-team members. Under B1, the required level across the LMI publishing framework is zero during active service.

The exclusive authority of a journal's appropriately authorised editorial leadership to make scholarly content decisions — including acceptance, rejection and record action — free from determination by payment, commercial, ownership, institutional, political or reputational interests.

Persons employed or engaged in a journal's editorial office who participate in the handling of manuscripts or editorial records, whether or not they hold decision authority.

Collectively, the Editor-in-Chief, editors, editorial-board members and editorial staff of a journal — the population covered by B1's same-journal publication prohibition, extended to serving guest editors by B3.

The date from which a published, approved version imposes obligations. Approval alone does not make an instrument Current.

A documented decision by a competent ethics body dispensing with individual consent within a defined scope, on grounds permitted by the applicable framework.

A citable notice alerting readers to serious but presently unresolvable questions about an article — where evidence is incomplete, an external process is pending or delayed, or the persons concerned are unreachable. It is a warning, not a sanction, and is revisited and resolved as soon as the position permits.

A voluntary framework of guidance a journal or LMI states it follows. Following such a standard confers no membership, accreditation, recognition or endorsement by the issuing body.

Invention of data, results, participants, approvals or events.

Manipulation of research materials, processes, images or data such that the research is not accurately represented.

A competing interest arising from money or economic value, including employment, consultancy, honoraria, advisory roles, grants, equity, patents and licensing income, paid travel, and attributable payments to a person's institution.

A statement identifying each funder or sponsor of the work, the applicable award reference, and the funder's role in design, conduct, analysis, writing and the decision to submit — or an express statement that the funder had no such role. Distinct from, and not satisfied by, competing-interest disclosure.

An AI system producing text, images, code, data or other content.

Information about inherited or acquired genetic material that may identify individuals, relatives or populations and may therefore require heightened privacy, access and community safeguards.

Omission from the author list of a person who meets authorship criteria, including undisclosed professional writers or sponsor personnel.

Naming as an author a person who does not meet authorship criteria.

The model in which the published version is made openly available by the journal itself at the moment of publication, with costs met other than by reader payment.

A concern raised honestly and on reasonable grounds, whether or not ultimately substantiated. Protected from retaliation under A4.

The LMI governing body's responsibility for approving the policy framework, appointing and supporting editorial leadership, resourcing journals and receiving assurance reporting — as distinct from editorial authority over content.

A person appointed under a documented mandate to exercise defined editorial responsibility for a specific collection, under the oversight and ultimate accountability of the journal's permanent editorial leadership, and treated as a serving editor for the purposes of B1 during the appointment.

The editor responsible for managing a specific manuscript's assessment — including reviewer selection and recommendation or decision — within a documented delegation of editorial authority.

A living person about whom, or from whom, a researcher obtains data, samples or identifiable information through intervention or interaction, including persons whose identifiable records or material are studied.

Processing of a genuine research image that alters the information it conveys about the underlying result, including selective enhancement or suppression, undisclosed splicing, duplication presented as distinct data, and removal or introduction of features. Distinct from image reuse (C2) and AI-generated imagery (C4).

Assignment of a matter to a person or panel free of conflict with its parties or subject, recorded as such, used whenever ordinary handlers are conflicted — including where editorial leadership or the publisher itself is implicated.

Voluntary agreement to participate in research, given with adequate understanding of purpose, procedures, risks, benefits and data handling, by a person with capacity or an authorised representative, documented as required and freely revocable.

A scholarly journal operating under the LMI publishing framework. Each journal acts severally: obligations apply to each journal individually.

A publisher-defined minimum standard whose detailed operational implementation rests at journal level.

The non-exclusive, limited licence authors grant to LMI and the publishing journal to publish, distribute, index, register, migrate, preserve and archive the work and to make it available under the applicable open licence; it confers no ownership.

The set of publisher policies, minimum standards and assurance mechanisms established by LMI under which its journals operate, together with each journal's own compliant policy suite.

Public or targeted communication intended to promote a journal, invite submissions, publicise content or develop professional relationships, required to be accurate, proportionate and distinguishable from personal or editorial correspondence.

The structured descriptive information registered and maintained for published content — including title, authors, affiliations and identifiers, dates, journal and issue information, article type, licence, funding, references, and links to related objects and notices — which enables discovery, citation and status determination.

A quantitative indicator of journal, article, author, citation, readership or usage activity. A metric describes a measured dimension and is not by itself a measure of research quality or integrity.

A competing interest arising otherwise than from economic value, including close personal, family, supervisory or collaborative relationships, competing unpublished work, organisational roles, and ideological or institutional stakes engaged by the subject matter. A scholarly opinion alone is not a disqualifying interest.

Immediate, free, online availability of published content to readers without subscription, registration, payment or embargo.

An operation producing or brokering manuscripts, authorship positions or publication outcomes as a commercial product, including fabricated or templated research.

Independent assessment of a manuscript by qualified experts, conducted under the journal's declared model, informing but not replacing the editorial decision.

Any conduct designed to corrupt or predetermine review outcomes, including fabricated or impersonated reviewer identities, compromised accounts, author-controlled reviewer channels, undisclosed reviewer rings, reciprocal schemes and coercive citation.

The journal's declared configuration of peer review — including whether and when author and reviewer identities are concealed or disclosed — which must accurately describe actual practice (B2).

The unique, permanent code assigned to an instrument on creation (LMI-POL-NNN or LMI-STD-NNN), never reused or reassigned, independent of title, content and category. Category classification is metadata and is never embedded in it.

Information relating to an identified or identifiable person processed in the publishing workflow, including participant information contained in research content.

Presentation of another's words, ideas, data, images or work as one's own without appropriate attribution and, where required, permission — including close paraphrase, unattributed translation and appropriation of material encountered in confidence.

A documented, authorised, limited and reviewable departure from a requirement where the policy permits discretion or a binding obligation requires another course. An exception cannot defeat an absolute safeguard.

Any approved document forming part of the LMI Publisher Policy Framework — a Publisher Policy, a Publisher + Journal Policy or a Journal Implementation Standard — carrying a permanent identifier, version and status.

An identified iteration of an instrument, with its own approval record and period of effect, retained when superseded.

Scholarly comment on published content — correspondence, commentaries, responses and reader-raised concerns — published under the standards of G3. It forms part of the scholarly record but does not itself amend the Version of Record.

Selection of an action sufficient to protect participants, fair process, readers and the scholarly record without imposing a more severe response than the circumstances require. Urgent interim protection may precede a final finding where risk is material.

Entry of a trial in a recognised public registry before enrolment of the first participant. Registration after enrolment is late registration and is not equivalent.

The document specifying a study's objectives, design, participants, interventions, outcomes and analysis plan, with version and date, against which conduct and reporting are assessed.

The documented origin, collection context, ownership or custodianship, transfers and permitted use of biological material, data or culturally governed resources.

Publication under a name other than the author’s public legal or professional identity, permitted only exceptionally where the journal verifies the person confidentially, preserves accountability, can assess competing interests and prevents concealment of prohibited authorship or misconduct.

Serious impropriety in the publication process, including prohibited authorship practices, plagiarism, redundant publication and manipulation under C1, C2 and C3.

The organisation responsible for the publishing framework, platforms, identifiers, preservation, financial administration and assurance of the journals it publishes. Publisher status confers no authority over the scholarly acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts.

An instrument establishing both LMI obligations and minimum standards that journals operating under the LMI publishing framework must implement.

An instrument applying directly and principally to LMI as publisher.

The documented agreement through which the lawful rights holder grants LMI and the journal the non-exclusive rights necessary to publish, license, index, preserve and maintain the Version of Record without transferring copyright ownership.

The requirements of a national, sectoral or other body for a journal to obtain or retain recognised status, applicable to particular journals and cycles and documented at journal level.

An action that visibly changes, qualifies or explains the status of published content: correction, addendum, Expression of Concern, retraction or exceptional removal under G2.

Withdrawal from participation in a matter because a competing interest could affect, or reasonably appear to affect, impartiality, with reassignment to a person free of the conflict and a record of the decision. Recusal manages conflicts within permitted activity and cannot cure a prohibition, including B1's absolute same-journal publication prohibition.

A partial decrease in a publication charge granted on published criteria.

Publication substantially overlapping earlier work without sufficient new content or acknowledgement of the overlap.

Return of a charge already paid, in accordance with the journal's published refund position.

A binding obligation imposed by law or by a body with legal authority over LMI or a journal.

Exceptional withdrawal of content from public access, confined to binding legal obligation, unlawful content, serious privacy or confidentiality breach, or immediate and serious safety risk that redaction cannot mitigate. Not available because content is embarrassing, controversial or retracted.

A recognised, design-specific statement of the minimum information a research report should contain, catalogued by sources such as the EQUATOR Network, applied in its current version under D4.

A recognised, persistent archive that stores research data or code with descriptive metadata and a persistent identifier, supporting open or controlled access.

The capacity of others to obtain consistent results using the reported data and methods. Transparent availability supports reproducibility but neither guarantees it nor warrants the validity of findings.

The recorded material — including datasets, measurements, images, code, protocols and materials — on which the reported findings depend.

A duly constituted body competent under the applicable national or institutional framework to review and approve research involving humans, and to grant waivers within its authority.

Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism or other serious departure from accepted practice in proposing, conducting or reporting research; excludes honest error and legitimate disagreement.

Assessment of research and researchers on the substance, quality, context and diverse contributions of their work rather than automatic reliance on journal-level or other proxy metrics.

Any detriment imposed on a person because they raised a good-faith concern — including rejection of unrelated work, exclusion from roles, disparagement or procedural disadvantage. Prohibited framework-wide under A4.

A rare process in which an article invalidated by an identifiable major error is retracted and a corrected manuscript undergoes complete new editorial and peer review, is published as a new Version of Record with a new persistent identifier, and is linked transparently to the original record.

A citable notice recording that an article’s findings or content are not to be relied upon, on grounds including fabrication, falsification, invalidating error, serious plagiarism or duplication, unethical research, or manipulation of the publication process. The article ordinarily remains accessible and prominently marked; retraction may proceed without author agreement and is not itself a finding of misconduct against an individual unless so stated on the basis of a determination under C5 or by a competent body.

The published statement effecting a retraction, identifying the article, the party retracting it and the grounds, stating reasons sufficient to inform the record while confined to what the evidence supports.

The reviewer’s confidential scholarly assessment submitted to a journal under its declared peer-review model. Editorial management may remove abusive, defamatory or confidential material but shall not alter the substantive assessment misleadingly.

A person who accepts a journal's invitation to assess a manuscript, bound by the conduct obligations of B2 from acceptance of the invitation until all resulting obligations end.

A statement attaching to specific content within an article that records its ownership or any restriction on its reuse — including consent-based restrictions on identifiable participant material — and which prevails over the general article licence for that content.

Artificial division of one coherent study into multiple submissions where the parts do not independently justify separate publication.

The permanent, publicly accessible body of published content, together with its metadata, persistent identifiers and all notices amending or qualifying it, maintained so that what was published, and what has since happened to it, remains discoverable.

Legitimate republication, typically in another language or for a different audience, with the consent of both journals, prominent citation of the primary source and faithful correspondence to it.

Deposit by authors of their work, including the published version, in repositories or on personal, institutional or professional platforms, permitted without embargo under the article licence with attribution and a link to the Version of Record.

A defined body of journal content assembled around a theme, event or commission, however titled, subject to the same standards as regular content and to the safeguards of B3.

Financial or in-kind support of a journal, collection, event or activity, requiring disclosure and conferring no editorial authority.

An instrument replaced by a later version of the same instrument, retained and marked as no longer current.

Reuse of an author's own previously published text without transparent citation or beyond what is reasonable and lawful.

Content within an article owned by someone other than the authors, for which permission is required and which may fall outside the article's Creative Commons licence, as indicated in its credit line or rights notice.

The retained bibliographic record and persistent identifier of removed content, resolving to a statement that the content has been removed and, so far as permissible, why and by whose authority.

Evidence that a person received, completed or acknowledged role-appropriate policy or integrity guidance, retained for assurance where the role or risk warrants it.

The periodic aggregated public report of LMI’s publishing and integrity activity, accurate, non-identifying and not overstating performance.

A publicly accessible, free registry meeting recognised standards including a minimum dataset — a WHO ICTRP primary registry, ClinicalTrials.gov, or an equivalent. Proprietary or non-public records do not qualify.

The version of an article formally published by the journal as final and citable, bearing its persistent identifier, publication date, licence and complete metadata. It arises on first publication in that form — including online-first publication — and is not created or displaced by later assignment to a volume, issue or pagination. Author manuscripts and preprints are not the Version of Record.

A participant whose capacity to consent freely or fully may be limited by age, capacity, dependency, confinement, displacement, acute distress or unequal power, requiring additional safeguards.

A full or partial dispensation from a publication charge, granted under a published scheme by persons other than those taking editorial decisions on the manuscript.