Purpose and Scope
This policy addresses organised or systematic manipulation of scholarly publishing — conduct directed at obtaining publication, authorship or citation by corrupting the process rather than by meeting its standards. It applies to authors, third parties acting for them, and any person interacting with an LMI journal. Reviewer conduct and review-specific manipulation remain governed in detail by B2; this policy governs the wider manipulation family and the publisher's portfolio-level response.
Prohibited Conduct
- Paper mills and purchased manuscripts — production, brokering or submission of manuscripts generated as a commercial product, including fabricated or templated studies, manipulated images or data, and manuscripts written to order for undisclosed clients.
- Sold, brokered or fabricated authorship — trading authorship positions, or naming persons who did not contribute in order to satisfy commercial or institutional requirements (C1).
- Fabricated identities and impersonation — inventing authors, reviewers, editors, institutions or affiliations; impersonating a real person; or using proxy contact channels controlled by an interested party.
- Falsified documents — fabricated or altered ethics approvals, consent documentation, registration records, funding statements, data-sharing confirmations or institutional letters (D1, D3).
- Citation manipulation — citation cartels and undisclosed reciprocal citation arrangements; coercive citation, meaning any request or requirement that citations be added other than for genuine scholarly reasons, whether by a reviewer, an editor or a third party; and the addition of excessive or irrelevant citations to inflate metrics of any journal, author or group.
- Coordinated submission manipulation — organised campaigns of submissions, suggested reviewers, or collection proposals designed to capture or overwhelm editorial processes (B3).
- Dishonest third-party services — editing, translation, statistical or submission agencies acting to conceal authorship, fabricate content, or misrepresent the provenance of work. Authors remain accountable for anything submitted on their behalf.
- Metric and engagement manipulation — artificial downloading or viewing, purchased or automated social engagement, fabricated testimonials or endorsements, coordinated activity intended to inflate attention or usage indicators, and any other dishonest attempt to manipulate journal, article, author or publisher metrics. Such conduct is prohibited whether performed by an author, editor, journal representative or external service.
Detection and Assessment
Journals shall maintain screening and verification proportionate to risk, including identity and affiliation verification (C1), reviewer verification (B2), scrutiny of unsolicited collection proposals (B3), and attention to indicators such as templated structure, mismatched data and methods, irregular image characteristics (E3), implausible authorship changes, and citation patterns inconsistent with the subject matter.
Indicators are signals, not findings. Unusual publication, authorship or citation patterns may have legitimate explanations — small research communities, specialised subfields, methodological convention. No adverse determination shall rest on pattern evidence alone; concerns are assessed under C5, with the persons concerned given a fair statement of the concern and an opportunity to respond.
Cross-Journal Analysis by the Publisher
Because manipulation frequently targets several journals simultaneously, LMI may analyse patterns across its portfolio and may share relevant information among its journals — for example, verified fabricated identities, brokered-submission indicators or confirmed manipulation findings. Such analysis and sharing shall: be limited to what integrity protection requires; comply with the confidentiality and personal-data requirements of A5; not be used to exclude authors from unrelated submissions in the absence of a determination reached under C5; and be recorded for assurance purposes (H2). Where cooperation with other publishers, institutions or integrity bodies is appropriate, it proceeds under C5.
Response
Confirmed manipulation may result in rejection, referral to the authors’ institutions or funders, notification of other affected publishers, a proportionate restriction on future engagement, and record action under Corrections, Expressions of Concern, Retractions & Removals (G2). Any restriction shall follow a reasoned determination under Research & Publication Misconduct Response Framework (C5), define its scope, be time-limited or subject to review, be recorded, and not operate as an undisclosed permanent blacklist. New material evidence shall be considered. LMI and its journals are themselves prohibited from coercive self-citation, citation trading or any practice intended to manipulate journal or publisher metrics. Where an editor, reviewer or guest editor participated, B1, B2 or B3 applies in addition, and appointments may be reviewed under B1.
Standards and Guidance
Informed by COPE guidance on paper mills, systematic manipulation of the publication process and citation manipulation, and the COPE Core Practices.