Purpose and Scope
This policy governs how instruments of the LMI Publisher Policy Framework are made, approved, published, identified, versioned, reviewed, amended and retired. It applies to every Publisher Policy, Publisher + Journal Policy and Journal Implementation Standard in the framework.
Authority and Roles
Authority is exercised by role, not by named individual; the persons holding each role are recorded operationally outside this policy. Five distinct roles are separated:
- Drafting — prepared by or under the direction of the function responsible for publishing policy, drawing on editorial, ethical, legal and operational input as the subject requires.
- Review — subject-matter review by relevant editorial leadership and, where the instrument carries legal, financial or regulatory implications, by the appropriate specialist function.
- Approval — approval of a policy instrument, and of any substantive amendment, rests with the LMI governing body or a body to which it has expressly delegated that authority (A2). Approval is an organisational governance act and confers no authority over scholarly decisions (A3).
- Publication — the approved instrument is published in the LMI policy library in its approved form.
- Implementation — LMI and each journal give effect to the instrument within its scope, including any journal-level policy or procedure required by it.
Interpretation and Document Hierarchy
Mandatory and discretionary wording is interpreted according to the conventions stated in the front matter of this master. References to external standards mean the current official version unless a policy fixes a version for a stated reason. In the event of inconsistency, the applicable order is: binding law and regulation; the current LMI Publisher Policy Framework; a journal’s current public policies; approved internal procedures and forms; and non-binding guidance. A conflict involving law, regulation, recognition or indexing criteria shall be documented and resolved under H3. A lower-level document shall be corrected rather than used to displace a higher-level obligation.
Identifiers and Classification
Each instrument carries a permanent policy identifier assigned by the LMI policy-management system on creation and never reused or reassigned:
- LMI-POL-NNN for Publisher Policies and Publisher + Journal Policies;
- LMI-STD-NNN for Journal Implementation Standards.
The identifier is permanent and independent of content, title and category. Category classification (A–H) is metadata and shall never be embedded in the permanent identifier, so that classification can be reported and displayed without affecting citation. Drafting labels used during development are working references only and do not survive into production.
Version Control Record
Each instrument shall carry, and the policy-management system shall hold: permanent policy identifier; title; category; document type; version identifier; status; approval record, including the approving body and date of approval; effective date; date of last review; scheduled date of next review; and supersession history identifying the version replaced and the version replacing it.
Lifecycle
Instruments move through defined states: Draft → In Review → Approved → Scheduled (where an effective date is set in the future) → Current → Superseded or Archived. Approval and currency are distinct: an approved instrument does not impose obligations until it is published and its effective date has arrived; until then, the previously current version continues to govern. An instrument is Current only while it is published, in force and not superseded. Superseded denotes an instrument replaced by a later version of the same instrument; Archived denotes an instrument withdrawn without replacement.
Revision
A revision creates a new version of the instrument. A new version shall never silently overwrite a published version: the prior version, its approval record and its period of effect are retained, and the workflow history — what changed, when, on whose approval — is preserved. Where a revision materially changes an obligation, the change shall be identified so that readers and journals can see what is new, and journals shall be given a reasonable period to implement. Obligations are assessed against the version in force when the conduct occurred, save where a later version is expressly stated to apply.
Review
Each instrument shall carry a scheduled review date and shall be reviewed at least on the cycle LMI adopts for that class of instrument. Review shall additionally be triggered, without waiting for the scheduled date, by: change in applicable law or regulation; change in recognition, indexing or external-standard criteria (H3); a significant integrity event or assurance finding (H2); material change in technology or publishing infrastructure; or operational learning showing an instrument to be unclear, unworkable or incomplete. A review that results in no change shall nevertheless be recorded, with the review date updated.
Emergency and Interim Amendment
Where a legal obligation, a serious integrity risk or an urgent operational necessity requires immediate change, an interim amendment may be made and published under the authority of the governing body or its delegate, taking effect immediately, with the reason recorded. An emergency interim amendment shall be submitted for formal review at the next appropriate governing-body review and as soon as reasonably practicable. The approving record shall state the deadline for confirmation, revision or withdrawal. Interim amendment shall not be used to circumvent ordinary review or to make change that is not genuinely urgent.
Public Availability
Current instruments shall be publicly available in the LMI policy library, each showing its identifier, version, status and effective date. Superseded and archived instruments shall be retained and remain available for historical and assurance purposes, clearly marked so that they cannot be mistaken for current requirements. Journals shall link to or reproduce the LMI instruments applicable to them, and shall keep their own policies consistent with the current versions.
Standards and Guidance
Informed by recognised document-control practice and by the transparency expectations of the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing concerning publicly stated, current policies.