General Legal Terms

Applicable Law

The law or laws that govern a particular issue, dispute, contract, publication, or legal responsibility in the relevant jurisdiction.

Breach

A failure to comply with a legal duty, contractual obligation, journal policy, or ethical requirement.

Court Order

A formal direction issued by a court that may require a person or organisation to do something or to refrain from doing something.

Defamation

A false statement presented as fact that unlawfully harms the reputation of a person or organisation. Journals should take care not to publish defamatory material.

Due Process / Fair Process

A fair and orderly procedure in which concerns are assessed carefully, relevant parties have a chance to respond, and decisions are made on the basis of evidence and policy rather than bias or impulse.

Lawful

Permitted by law. In journal policies, this usually means that an action, use of material, disclosure, or publication is legally allowed.

Legal Risk

The possibility that a publication, editorial action, or omission may expose the journal, publisher, or others to legal liability or legal dispute.

Liability

Legal responsibility for an act, omission, loss, damage, or wrongful conduct.

Jurisdiction

The legal authority of a court, regulator, institution, or governing body to deal with a matter.

Rights and Licensing

Copyright

A legal right that protects original works of authorship, such as articles, tables, figures, and other creative or scholarly content. Copyright determines who may reproduce, share, or adapt the work.

Licence

A legal permission that allows others to use a work in specified ways under stated conditions.

Non-Exclusive Licence

A licence that allows the journal to publish and distribute a work while the author still retains copyright and may also permit other lawful uses of the work.

CC BY 4.0

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. This licence allows others to copy, share, adapt, and reuse the work, including for commercial purposes, provided proper credit is given and any changes are indicated.

Third-Party Material

Content that belongs to someone other than the author, such as images, tables, figures, maps, or extracts from another source. Permission may be required before such material is reused.

Permission

Formal authorisation from the copyright holder or another authorised party to reuse protected material.

Reuse

The lawful sharing, copying, adaptation, or republication of material under the terms of copyright law, licence, or specific permission.

Version of Record

The final, authoritative, published version of an article that forms part of the official scholarly record.

Data and Research Ethics

Ethics Approval

Formal approval granted by a recognised ethics committee, institutional review board, or equivalent body allowing a study to proceed under stated conditions.

Ethics Exemption

A formal determination that a study does not require full ethics review under the relevant rules, although ethical responsibilities may still apply.

Informed Consent

Agreement by a participant to take part in research after receiving adequate information about the purpose, procedures, risks, benefits, confidentiality arrangements, and voluntary nature of participation.

Confidentiality

The obligation to protect information from unauthorised disclosure. In publishing, this may apply to manuscripts under review, reviewer identities, participant information, or institutional data.

Privacy

A person’s right to control access to personal information and aspects of their private life.

Personal Data

Information relating to an identified or identifiable person, such as name, contact details, ID number, or other information that can reasonably be linked to a specific individual.

Sensitive Data

A higher-risk category of personal information, often including health, financial, biometric, political, or other especially private information requiring stronger protection.

Data Protection

The legal and ethical safeguarding of personal data, including rules on access, storage, processing, sharing, and retention.

Anonymisation

The process of removing or altering identifying details so that a person cannot reasonably be identified from the data or publication.

Proprietary Data

Data owned or controlled by an organisation or party and subject to legal, commercial, or contractual restrictions on access or disclosure.

Gatekeeper Permission

Permission obtained from a person or institution that controls access to participants, records, or research settings, such as a school, company, ministry, or organisation.

Editorial and Dispute Terms

Appeal

A request for the journal to reconsider an editorial decision because of a significant procedural error, factual misunderstanding, or other serious concern about fairness or process.

Complaint

A formal expression of concern about the conduct of the journal, its editors, reviewers, publisher, or editorial processes.

Conflict of Interest / Competing Interest

A financial, professional, personal, institutional, political, or other interest that could reasonably be seen as influencing judgment, objectivity, or fairness.

Recusal

The act of withdrawing from involvement in a decision or process because of a conflict of interest or other legitimate reason affecting impartiality.

Editorial Independence

The principle that editorial decisions are made on scholarly and ethical grounds, free from improper influence by owners, sponsors, advertisers, institutions, or personal interests.

Good Faith

Acting honestly, sincerely, and without intent to deceive, abuse, or manipulate the process.

Whistleblower

A person who raises concerns about suspected wrongdoing, misconduct, or integrity problems. The person may be named or anonymous.

Retaliation

Adverse treatment directed at a person because they raised a complaint, concern, or allegation in good faith.

Sanction

A corrective or disciplinary measure taken in response to proven misconduct or serious non-compliance, such as rejection, correction, retraction, or temporary submission restriction.

Record and Integrity Terms

Correction

A formal notice used to amend a published article where part of the content is inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading, but the article remains substantially reliable overall.

Erratum

A correction notice usually used for an error introduced by the journal or publisher during production or publication.

Corrigendum

A correction notice usually used for an error made by the author or authors.

Expression of Concern

A public notice issued when there are serious concerns about a publication, but the available information is not yet sufficient for a final decision such as correction or retraction.

Retraction

A formal statement that a published article is seriously unreliable or seriously in breach of publication standards and should not be relied upon as part of the scholarly record in its original form.

Removal

The withdrawal of published material from public view in exceptional circumstances, usually because of serious legal, privacy, safety, or court-related concerns. A public notice should normally remain in place.

Takedown

The temporary or permanent removal of content from a website or platform, often because of legal, safety, or rights-related concerns.

Publication Misconduct

Serious wrongdoing in the submission, review, editing, or publication process, such as plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, manipulated peer review, deceptive authorship, or undisclosed major conflicts of interest.

Fabrication

Making up data, results, evidence, participant responses, citations, approvals, or other information that did not actually exist.

Falsification

Manipulating research materials, data, procedures, images, or results so that the record no longer accurately reflects what occurred.

Duplicate Submission

Submitting the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal or publication venue at the same time without proper disclosure.

Redundant Publication

Publishing substantially overlapping material more than once in a way that misleads readers or distorts the scholarly record.

Plagiarism

Using another person’s words, ideas, data, or creative expression without proper acknowledgement and presenting them as one’s own.