World LUMEN Congress 2021
RULE 1: PARTICIPATION, GUIDELINES, AND LIMITATIONS
Plenary presentations |

Plenary sessions will be dedicated to the specific areas of the Congress, in accordance with the main topics of the Congress. A plenary session is one which all the registered participants are to attend. A plenary speaker is a facilitator with authority in his area of expertise, which aims to stimulate the auditory to discussion on a specific chosen topic. The plenary presentations will take place during virtual plenary ZOOM sessions (live).
Even if the majority of the plenary speeches will be invited speeches, proposals of plenary presentations can be sent to the organizers, no later than 5th of May 2021.
A plenary speaker is expected to be at least PhD/ECR and have at least 4 H-factor in Web of Science or Scopus.
A plenary presentation should be sole authored.
The proposal of a plenary speech should contain the following information in the abstract & registration template: Title of the speech; Authorship (full affiliation and contact); Keywords; The conference theme in which the lecture should be included; Abstract (max 250 words); Biodata (short professional description of the speaker); CV + list of works/ previous presentations/lectures in its field of expertise.

Lectures |

Presentations should consist in speech of a specific topic of the Congress. A proposed lecture could be only sole authored. The speech should be of about 40 minutes and be focused on an original contribution to knowledge, that is both significant and rigorous. The speaker should have highly-regarded oratory and presentation skills, presentation content expertise, ability to engage an audience and manifest creativity and innovation during the speech. These will take place during virtual lecture ZOOM sessions (live).

The proposal of lecture should contain the following information in the abstract & registration template: Title of the speech; Authorship (full affiliation and contact); Keywords; The conference theme in which the lecture should be included; Abstract (max 250 words); Biodata (short professional description of the speaker); CV + list of works/ previous presentations/lectures in its field of expertise.

Workshops |

Workshops are associated events organized by research or educational institutions in one particular area of the Congress, starting from the presented papers, breakout sessions built around a specific thematic, with a greater level of audience interaction and sharing. A Workshop should be constituted from at least 1 chair (who can also be speaker) and 6 participants. Based on presented papers on the workshop topic, there are generated discussions, engaging both the presenters and the audience. An workshop emphasizes joint exploration of ideas and concepts relevant to the knowledge development of the discussed topic. We encourage auditors to participate to discussions, even they are not registered with papers. The participation as auditor will be certified with certificate of participation. These will take place during virtual workshop ZOOM sessions (live).

A workshop proposal will contain the following: Workshop TitleMain Organizer InstitutionCo-organizersChair (The chairs for accepted proposals will be included in the organizing team and will be exempted from fee participation; only one chair per session will benefit of exemption of fee participation for one paper presented); OverviewTopicsPeriodRegistered participants (at least 6 participants – full name, affiliations and contacts, proposals of presentations titles & abstracts – 250 words abstract limit)

Round Tables |

A Round Table usually is a debate on a specific topic, involving at least 10-15 participants, starting from an idea/topic exposed by a moderator/leader. A roundtable leader will present a compelling topic which will be explored from the varied perspectives of table participants. A round table give the opportunity for an excellent networking and most of all supports the idea sharing. We encourage for proposals of round tables to address up to date subjects that would be of interest for participants from different countries but yet interested by the debated. When submitting the proposal for a round table, the nominator must send a clear description of the overall topic of the roundtable. The roundtable proponent should make sure he/she has the best background for generating a great debate. Furthermore he/she should determine a set of questions and activities to guide the conversation, in order to foreseen what insights and knowledge the audience will gain as a direct result of participating in the roundtable debate.
The proposal or participation to a round table is conditioned by registering to the Congress with a paper (different from that included in the Round Table). A round table will be scheduled in the Congress program only if there at least 6 participants registered as auditory/debaters. (participation fee for debaters who want to participate in the round table is 10 euro/person).

Oral presentations |

Presentations consist of individual presentations which will be grouped under one of the Congress themes. These will take place during regular sessions. Presentations must relate to one of the Congress themes. Speakers must focus on an original contribution to knowledge that is both significant and rigorous. 10 minutes per presenter with 5 minutes discussion each.

An oral presentation submission should contain the following information in the abstract & registration template: Title of the paper; Authorship (+ full affiliations and contacts); Keywords; The conference theme in which the paper should be included; Abstract (max 250 words – Research Problem, Methodology, Originality, Conclusion); Biodata (short professional description of each author mentioned in the authorship); the presenter author’s name (in case of multiple authorship)

Make sure that you are available online, ready for the ZOOM meeting, at least 10 minutes before the oral session starts within the section you belong;

All registered participants with plenary and oral presentations, lectures and workshops are kindly invited to send the video recording of their VIRTUAL PRESENTATION in order for their participation to be validated. 

Guidelines for plenary, oral, workshops & lectures presentations presentations |

Until May 5th, 2021, all registered participants with plenary, oral, workshop & lectures presentations are kindly invited to send their video recording, of their VIRTUAL PRESENTATION in order for their participation to be validated. 

The video presentation of the paper is needed in order to consider the final paper eligible for evaluation for possible publication after peer-review. 

This video will be made available, for global audience, on the Youtube Channel Editura LUMEN, the official YouTube Chanel of the Congress.

The video will consist of paper presentation recording of maximum 15 minutes length, in WMA or MP4 format. Make sure the recording will be made in an accurate manner, high quality sound and image.

The LUMEN team will upload it to the LUMEN Publishing House/ Editura LUMEN YouTube channel and create a link to the Congress website and to the Facebook page LUMEN conference center.

How the Virtual Plenary & Regular Zoom sessions will take place | live sessions

At the time of the Congress the presentations will be scheduled into live ZOOM sessions, and participants who will be scheduled to present their works will have a dedicated time for paper presentation, followed by a 5-minute interval allocated for answers to questions. In the minutes allocated for live presentation, the authors will very briefly present the pre-recorded video, which is already uploaded on YouTube.

Timing |

  • Virtual Plenary Zoom sessions | 15- 20 minutes for presentation
  • Virtual Regular Zoom sessions | 10 minutes for presentation
  • Virtual Workshop ZOOM sessions | 10 minutes for presentation
  • Virtual Lectures ZOOM sessions | 40 minutes for speech

Each session has a dedicated chair/moderator who has been instructed to ensure that strict timings are observed. Once all speakers have presented in the session, the Chair/moderator will take questions from the audience, and to facilitate wider discussion. The Congress is running on a very strict time schedule so it is vital that you keep to your allocated time and respect the contributions of everyone on your session and from the audience. 

Please endeavor to be online at your allocated online session 10 minutes in advance of the session, where possible, to allow final arrangements to be made.

Your chair/moderator has been advised to make contact with you either pre-congress or at the congress time itself, ahead of your session, via Skype or Facebook Messenger ID, or even WhatsApp contact, to make sure you are available for the online meeting.

What else you should know |

Those who are unable to make the presentation in real time in virtual sessions through ZOOM are kindly asked to transfer their work to the poster presentation sessions, and follow the poster presentation instructions, no later than May 5th, 2020.

The organizing team will send participants ZOOM links for participation. All participants will receive an audience invitation for all sections of the conference, not only those in which they are scheduled to present the registered paper.

People who listen to the recording on YouTube can ask questions posted as comments regarding the presentation.

A person who, although virtually programmed, cannot attend the ZOOM session in which he is programmed, if she/he receives questions on the Facebook page is invited to answer them in the open space intervals, so that his/her answer is accessible to the general public.

To view the model of some previous virtual presentations, we invite you to see the video recordings on the YouTube channel Editura LUMEN.

Poster presentation |

Poster sessions will provide an opportunity for the authors to display the results and conclusions of the presented paper. The poster will be displayed online throughout the posters session during the congress.

All posters will be made publicly online available for the duration of the Congress and will remain online post – congress. Moreover, there will be dedicated poster sessions for each theme built into the congress program. Please consult the congress program in order to see the times that posters can be viewed and the dedicated times for each theme. 

Please note that the dedicated sessions are your opportunity to discuss your work in depth and to answer any questions delegates may have. You are therefore expected to be online in order to answer the questions the online audience will be posting for your poster for the duration of your dedicated session(s). The theme you are categorized by is the theme under which you submitted your paper.

The Organizing team will create a Poster session dedicated album of the Congress, on the official Facebook Page of LUMEN Conference Center and upload all the posters resulted from the registrations. A large online audience will be able to ask questions or make commentaries on the poster, posted as comments. The author/ authors of the poster receiving comments, are invited to answer them when the Open Space virtual or poster presentations session are scheduled. (Open space presentations refers to the time when comments / questions can be addressed to the works posted on the YouTube channel or on the Facebook page, outside of the sessions programmed through ZOOM.)

The poster must be structured so that it answers the following questions about the structure of the paper:

  • What is the research topic?
  • Why was this aspect researched?
  • How the research was conducted (subjects, methods)?
  • What are the results of the research (results, discussions)?

Until May 5th, 2021, all registered participants can also send a short video recording of their POSTER, in order for their participation to be validated. 

The video will consist of paper presentation recording of maximum 3-5 minutes length, in WMA or MP4 format. 

Make sure the recording will be made in an accurate manner, high quality sound and image. The video presentation of the paper is not needed in order to consider the final paper eligible for evaluation for possible publication after peer-review. 

The LUMEN team will upload it to the LUMEN Publishing HouseEditura LUMEN YouTube channel and create a link to the event website and to the Facebook page LUMEN conference center.

Please see below the available options: 

#1. if you will design your poster – you should use the Corel Draw template and create your poster starting from the resume of your paper. After creating it, you should send it to us (in PDF or JPG format), via wlc@lumenconference.com, so to be confirmed by us from the point of view of the graphical, ethical and editorial compliance. After our team approves it, the poster will be posted on the Facebook page of the LUMEN Conference Center, on the online poster session.

Poster to be sent to us no later than May 5th, 2021

#2. if you choose for us to create your poster – (for a 20 euro poster design fee) – based on your paper resume, sent by email, we will proceed to create your poster, using the same Corel Draw poster template. After creating it, the poster will be sent to you for confirmation. After your approval, the poster will be uploaded on the Facebook page of the LUMEN Conference Center, on the online poster session.

If you will chose to create the poster by yourself, please make sure you are considering to follow these guidelines when submitting your poster:

  • poster dimensions: All posters should be Portrait, A1-sized according toe the Poster template.
  • posters should be clear and easy to read. Type size should be sufficiently large to allow people to read. DO NOT REDUCE TEXT SIZE IN ORDER TO FIT MORE INFORMATION ONTO THE POSTER.
  • design the poster to convey a CLEAR MESSAGE. If this is not obvious to the reader after reading the introduction, the message is NOT CLEAR and the reader will move on to an alternative poster.
  • avoid overload – too much information seriously detracts from the overall impact.
  • the SIMPLE use of color can enhance a presentation; remember too that an image can be far more effective than a body of text.
  • if appropriate, consider the use of a suitable photograph, but do not include as a background to the poster.
  • if you chose using images, please make sure you are either the author of these or you own the copyright to use and reproduce them onto your poster. No photos with personal identification elements (eg. faces of children or adults) could be accepted in the posters. The authors must provide the organizer with the proof of the right to reproduce such images, or if the case, the agreement from the photographed persons to use their information and make it publicly available by the author.
  • keep Logos to a minimum and discrete.
  • proofread the poster, and get others to do so as well.

Please let us know what option you chose, no later than May 5th, 2021 so to plan the poster session and to receive the text for the poster (in case of option #2).

All the posters will be included on the electronic Congress materials also, and made available online on the Congress website, for a large audience.

To view the model of some previous virtual presentations, we invite you to see the posters from previous conferences, available at LUMEN Conference center

Book release |

If you have a recently published book which you want to release it to a large audience, you should propose your book release event to our Congress. The proponent of a book release should submit the following information to us, using wlc2021@lumenconference: Book info (title; author, if other than the proponent; number of pages; time of publication; publisher); a short description of the book (2- 3 descriptive paragraphs); invited quests information (a list of at least 3 persons who will actually release the book, by presenting it to the audience: full name, role & institutional affiliation)

Associated conference |

We invite representatives of research and academic institutions to propose scientific conferences to be organized as associated events to World LUMEN Congress 2021.

As scientific conference, the event may address a specific topic or many topics in a specific research field, by involving national and international participants. The conference theme should be in accordance with the Congress topics.

An associated scientific conference proposal must contain: The Conference title; the Edition number; the Conference dates (should be between 26 and 30 May, 2021); Venue (location of the Main organizer); the main organizer; the conference website (if hosted to a an website already); the conference short description (aims and topics). The conference will be co-organized with LUMEN conference Center team, the selection of the abstracts being in the main organizers’ responsibility. Further information will be communicated to the representative of the conference accepted for becoming associated to our congress, post evaluation of the proposal.

Important to know! GDPR action |

These Zoom sessions are recorded – by continuing you are giving your consent to be recorded.
No sensitive information about the participants – other than those existing in the Program or in the official documents of the Conference – will be made public without the express consent of the data subjects.
The records are kept in the archive of Lumen Publishing House for the use of Lumen Publishing House. We inform you that these sessions are broadcast live on Facebook, and if you do not want to be seen you can join without video image (valid for participants who do not have a presentation) and you can change the user name you enter with / a pseudonym to anonymize your presence.

The recorded materials resulted from ZOOM session will be distributed online on Facebook and YouTube channel Editura Lumen, being available to a global audience and will remain online AFTER the end of the Congress.
The Plenary Sessions and the Regular Virtual sessions will be broadcast live on Facebook, for a general audience, and will later be posted on YouTube. Workshops and book releases will not be broadcast live on Facebook nor posted on YouTube.

Four-Session/One-Paper Rule |

A conference participant may appear on the program in no more than 4 (four) sessions and may present only one paper on a session during the conference. There can be no exceptions to this rule. Please Note: If you submit an Individual Paper proposal, it constitutes your one paper presentation. Being a workshop speaker does not count as a “paper” presentation.

Disciplinary Diversity: Workshops that have more than one disciplinary representation are strongly encouraged.

Institutional Diversity: A workshop should not be made up of participants from only one institution. The presenters on a workshop must be from at least two different institutions.

Gender Diversity: Gender diversity on workshops is strongly encouraged.

Student Participation: As a rule of thumb, graduate student participants generally should be at the PhD research stage in their programs, and panels composed primarily of graduate students should include at least one member who has completed their terminal degree. A proposal made up only of graduate students will most likely be rejected.  Undergraduate papers are not accepted unless the Coordinating Professor is co-author, or has expressed his agreement to publish the paper without his contribution, in written.

RULE 2: REGISTRATION

All participants on sessions/workshops must register by the deadline and pay the registration fee. Failure to register will lead to the participant’s name being removed from the Index of Participants in the convention program.

In exceptional cases, where the author can justify the impossibility of paying the registration or publication fee due to social status, the Organizing Committee may offer a special LUMEN Grant, partially or fully covering the aforementioned fees, to no more than 3% of the number of accepted participants. The selection criteria is subjective, and is solely connected to the perceived scientific value of the Abstract/Paper.

RULE 3: CANCELLATION

If a scheduled session/symposium/workshop participant is unable to participate in the convention, he or she must notify the session organizer AND the Organizing Team Coordinator for LUMEN Conferences. Failure to register or notify LUMEN of cancellation may lead to exclusion from future conventions.

RULE 4: PAYMENTS

No payments will be made in advance, before the confirming of the acceptance to participation / publication, by LUMEN Conference Organizers

Payments made by the Proponent (abstract or full papers proposals) before the confirmation of acceptance from the organizers’ part (as it is or with requests for modification) will be considered overpayments and in case of rejection of the proposal by LUMEN, the reimbursement of these payments to the payer will not be possible.

LUMEN billing service may be made on behalf of the payer (individual or legal) mentioned on the proof of payment. If the payment is accepted to be performed by a legal entity (university, research institute, company etc.) only on the basis of a pre-invoice issued by the conference organizers in this regard, the request of the pre-invoice is performed at least one week in advance, accompanied by the full details of the payer. In case of payments made by individuals on behalf of institutions, the invoice will be issued on the name of the individual payers, specifying in detail the bill: payment made to a legal person. There are not allowed payments made by individuals on behalf of other individuals, unless this has been previously announced to the conference organizers and billed as such on behalf of the payer.

RULE 5: PUBLICATION – SELECTION, RESEARCH ETHICS & FEES
SELECTION – PEER REVIEW PROCESS|
  1. Peer Review Process: Standards and Description

I.1. Editorial Evaluation

This is the first stage evaluation, in which the paper proposed for evaluation is assessed from the technical and administrative points of view. The evaluation is made by the editor in charge with the issue following to identify whether the paper is related to the specificity of the journal and if it addresses subjects that are in direct connection with the current issue’s topic. The editor in charge will also assess if the author complies with the editorial requirements, such as the citation system, respecting the journal’s technical parameters from the template available online, or the structure of the article.

Only after the technical requirements are fulfilled by the author will the paper be the subject of the peer review process and its scientific quality evaluated.  After texts are analyzed to see if they match the disciplinary and thematic orientation of the publication’s editorial quality standards of LUMEN publications, text or abstracts and significant fragments are sent to two reviewers selected from the Board of Reviewers of LUMEN Publishing House, whose scientific activity and expertise corresponds most with the proposed text.

I.2. Scientific Evaluation

After texts are analyzed from the scientific point of view, reviewers communicate their decision and the observations/requirements (if any) as a condition of publication. The editor in charge transmits the reviewers’ decision to the author and, if the reviewers are agreed on the acceptance for publication but recommend changes of the text, it is sent back to the author to make changes. Once the requested changes are made, the text returns to the two reviewers of LUMEN Publishing House Committee to check the final version of the text and transmit their decision.

The scientific evaluation is completed in at least one of the following ways:

  • Double blind peer review

The blind peer review process consists of assigning a blind manuscript (with no identification information of the author/s)  to a reviewer whose identity is not known to the author whose paper is subject to evaluation, nor will be known by the author after the evaluation is completed. The correspondence between the reviewers/s and the author/s will be intermediated by the publisher – LUMEN Publishing House.

The results of evaluation can be of the following typesacceptance, acceptance with modifications or rejected. If a reviewer rejects the manuscript but another one accepts it, the manuscript is assessed by a third reviewer, or the editor responsible for the issue, who will accomplish the advocate function and take the final decision. If it is accepted with modifications, corrections will be asked for from the author.

  • Reviewers Proposed by Authors

Authors are invited to propose their own specialty referrers when they submit their paper for publication. They can be coordinators of doctoral theses, etc.

The opinions of the authors’ proposed reviewers will be considered, in the event of a disagreement between the two peer reviewers proposed by LUMEN Publishing, or where peer reviewers accept papers with a reserve. Also, this method is used as an additional editorial peer review, in the case of situation that requests it.

I.3. Ethical evaluation and identification of, and dealing with allegations of research misconduct

Ethical evaluation follows two directions, namely Editorial Ethics and Research Ethics.

Regarding Editorial Ethics, these are analyzed suspicions of plagiarism and the improper award of authorship (including authors who contributed to the text or research and the exclusion of authors who have contributed). They also track potential conflicts of interest that occurred after publication by LUMEN, the rights to reproduce images, text or republication rights fragments where appropriate. It is followed the avoidance of double funding requests when the volume of publicly-funded appearance.

The second direction aims of evaluation for respecting the ethical rules of scientific research where appropriate:

  • the rules of data confidentiality,
  • obtaining the agreement of person / persons interviewed or for which you have undertaken research included in the volume,
  • in the protection of the interests of natural or legal persons, in order not to violate any image or other rights of nature provided by law.

I.4. Editorial Review of Translations

Editorial reviewers of translation exclusively target the quality of translations in Romanian. An evaluation is undertaken by a specialist, a connoisseur of the language in which the book appeared or a native speaker and the quality of translation is checked.

I.5. LUMEN Submission Platform

In order to improve the quality management system of works and peer reviews, LUMEN Publishing House has implemented, since July 2012, the LUMEN Submission Platform.

The LUMEN Submission Platform is a management system platform of works and peer reviews that facilitates the submission of works by authors and the peer review process conducted by reviewers. The software is flexible and can be used in both work and management across all referents within all projects (book publishing, scientific journals and conferences).

1.6. Copyright and Author Responsibility

Authors assure the publisher, at the moment of signing the contract and sending the final version of the volume, that he/she holds all the copyrights to tables, images etc., including the content in the volume and declares expressly that he/she assumes full responsibility for the existence of the copyright of the entire contents of the proposed publication and all co-authors.

For publication, where necessary, it seeks the advice of the Ethics Committees of LUMEN Publishing House, both in terms of editorial ethics and the ethics of research on human subjects.

1.7. Selection and Acceptance of Reviewers

LUMEN Publishing reviewers are scientific and cultural personalities, recognized nationally and internationally with a PhD; in special or exceptional circumstances, having the quality of a PhD student.

The reviewers must have a rich expertise and experience to be chosen as a referent, certified through publications, conferences, grants, etc. and have previously worked for LUMEN Publishing and the LUMEN Research Center in Social and Humanistic Sciences.

ETHICS OF PUBLICATION |

LUMEN Publishing House  adheres to the COPE principles of transparency and supports the COPE’s principal objects, “promotion, for the public benefit, of ethical standards of conduct in research and ethical standards in the publication of academic journals.”  (COPE). LUMEN Publishing House also aims to comply with the Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines (Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers)

In respect of the COPE principles, LUMEN exposes the following statements of ethical practice in publishing; a manuscript publication is made only after the ethical review is completed by one or two different reviewers, who evaluated the work scientifically and must consider at least the following aspects:

  • The avoidance of the risk of plagiarism and respect for intellectual property;
  • Respect for the rights of human subjects in research;
  • The identification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct;
  • The identification of and dealing with manipulations of citations;
  • The disclosure of any conflicts of interest;
  • Withdrawal from the distribution of publications.

The Research Ethics Committee (REC) and Editorial Ethics Committee of LUMEN Association has written this editorial ethics’ regulation. It is required, where applicable, that an affidavit of the author of informed consent in all research that was conducted with human subjects.  Also the opinion of the REC is needed – where applicable.

THE AVOIDANCE OF THE RISK OF PLAGIARISM AND RESPECT FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Plagiarism is the exposing of another person’s thoughts or words as though they were your own, without permission, credit, or acknowledgment, or because of failing to cite the sources properly. Plagiarism can take diverse forms, from literally “copying” to paraphrasing the work of another. In order to judge properly whether an author has plagiarized, we emphasize the following possible situations:

  • An author can literally copyanother author’s work by copying word for word, in whole or in part, without permission, acknowledgement or citing the original source. This practice can be identified by comparing the original source and the manuscript/work which is suspected of plagiarism.
  • Substantial copying implies an author has reproduced a substantial part of the work of another author, without permission, acknowledgement or citation. The term substantial can be understood both in terms of quality and quantity, often being used in the context of intellectual property. Quality refers to the relative value of the copied text in proportion to the work as a whole.
  • Paraphrasinginvolves taking ideas, words or phrases from a source and crafting them into new sentences within the writing. This practice becomes unethical when the author does not properly cite or does not acknowledge the original work/author. This form of plagiarism is the more difficult form to be identified.

LUMEN Publishing has an intensive preoccupation concerning the right of ownership and the avoidance of plagiarism. The main responsibility lies with the authors in publishing contracts expressly stipulating the obligation, including an affidavit that all materials belong to the author and that quotations are made in accordance with the law.

In accordance with the quality assurance principle of COPE, the following practices were developed by LUMEN Publishing House:

  • requesting of author copies of the reprinting rights for illustrations, graphs, tables etc. subject to copyright;
  • adopting systems for detecting plagiarism (e.g. software, searching for similar titles) in submitted items (either routinely or when suspicions are raised);
  • supporting authors whose copyright has been breached or who have been the victims of plagiarism;
  • being prepared to work with their publisher to defend authors’ rights and pursue offenders (e.g. by requesting retractions or removal of material from websites), irrespective of whether their journal holds the copyright.

RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN SUBJECTS IN RESEARCH

Related to ethical compliance in research on human subjects, LUMEN Publishing House and its publications adheres also to the statements included within the WMA Helsinki Declaration 2013; statements which refer to Research Registration and Publication and Dissemination of Results.

“Authors, editors and publishers all have ethical obligations with regard to the publication of the results of research. Authors have a duty to make publicly available the results of their research on human subjects and are accountable for the completeness and accuracy of their reports. They should adhere to accepted guidelines for ethical reporting. Negative and inconclusive as well as positive results should be published or otherwise made publicly available. Sources of funding, institutional affiliations and conflicts of interest should be declared in the publication. Reports of research not in accordance with the principles of this Declaration should not be accepted for publication.” WMA Declaration of Helsinki, 2013, Paragraph 36 

In addition, LUMEN Publishing can request the author to provide a copy of the ethical approval from the REC of the institution in which the research was conducted, in order to be assured of the informed consent of the research participant, the right to withdraw from the research and the confidentiality of data on subjects enrolled in the research)

THE IDENTIFICATION OF, AND DEALING WITH ALLEGATIONS OF, RESEARCH MISCONDUCT

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) defines research misconduct as: “fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results”, while Council of Science Editors  defines “research misconduct” as  ”applying to any action that involves mistreatment of research subjects or purposeful manipulation of the scientific record such that it no longer reflects observed truth.”

Respecting COPE statements, LUMEN Publishing has the duty to act if misconduct is suspected or if an allegation of misconduct is brought to us. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. We comply to the following:

  • “Editors should not simply reject papers that raise concerns about possible misconduct. They are ethically obliged to pursue alleged cases.
  • Editors should follow the COPE flowcharts where applicable.
  • Editors should first seek a response from those suspected of misconduct. If they are not satisfied with the response, they should ask the relevant employers, or institution, or some appropriate body (perhaps a regulatory body or national research integrity organization) to investigate.
  • Editors should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that a proper investigation into alleged misconduct is conducted; if this does not happen, editors should make all reasonable attempts to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem. This is an onerous but important duty.”

THE IDENTIFICATION OF, AND DEALING WITH, THE MANIPULATION OF CITATIONS

The practice of manipulating citations is often seen as a form of coercion, coming from the editors, publishers or editorial board members who put pressure on the authors, binding them to add citations from the journal, with the purpose of increasing citation rates and the journal’s impact. Also, authors are known to self-cite their previous work and excessive citation may fall under citation manipulation (Publication Integrity & Ethics (PIE).

LUMEN Publishing ensures, through the process of peer review and its reviewers (both editorial and technical review), the quality of the citations used within a scientific manuscript. Reviewers are encouraged to verify the correlation between the sources used in the text and those mentioned within the bibliography chapter. Also, in the case of the identification or suspicion of citation manipulation, the reviewers have the duty to ask for supplementary explanations of the utility of the sources in the text, as in the case of identifying sources that are not necessary, in connection with the topic approached by the author.

TO AVOID CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

LUMEN Publishing House requires that sources of financial support for the work reported within the manuscript are fully acknowledged, and any potential conflicts of interest noted.

LUMEN Publishing House requires a statement about authors’ conflicts of interest for all manuscripts submitted to the journal. Authors are kindly asked to disclose any possible conflict of interest at the end of the manuscript. Any reported conflicts of interest will be published in a highlighted zone as part of the article. If no conflicts of interest are reported, the statement “No conflicts of interest have been declared.” will be included.

Possible conflicts of interest include financial interests relating to issues discussed in the manuscript; for example, patent ownership, stock ownership, consultancies, speakers’ fees.

FOR AUTHORS:

Manuscript submission by author affiliated at same institution as one of the editors

A manuscript submitted by an author who is affiliated to the same institution as one of the editors will be taken in charge by one of the other editors who is not at that institution. The other editor will select reviewers and make all the decisions on the manuscript.

Manuscript submission by family member of editor or by author whose relationship with editor might create the perception of bias

This type of situation will be also handled by another editor. The other editor will select reviewers and make all decisions on the manuscript. If in doubt, the editors will consult with one another, or will appeal to a third party, as an advocate.

FOR EDITORS:

Manuscript submission by an editor

A manuscript submitted by an editor will be processed by one of the other editors who is not affiliated to the same institution as the submitting editor. The other editor will select reviewers and make all the decisions on the manuscript. The peer review process will be handled in such a way that the author does not have access to information or correspondence relating to the submission that is not meant for authors.

FOR REVIEWERS:

Potential conflict of interest for reviewers

Prior to a manuscript being assigned to a reviewer, the reviewer will receive an invitation letter that includes the following paragraph: “If you know or think you know the identity of the author, and if you feel there is any potential conflict of interest in your reviewing this manuscript because of your relationship with the author (e.g. in terms of close friendship or conflict/rivalry) or for any other reason, please DECLARE IT. By accepting this invitation, it is assumed there is no potential conflict of interest.”

WITHDRAWAL FROM DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLICATIONS

After the appearance of a publication for as long as it is in distribution, it can be withdrawn from broadcast at the request of Lumen Publishing ethics’ committee for the following reasons:

  • Plagiarism and copyright infringement;
  • Breaches of confidentiality in published research;
  • Exposure of persons or institutions to libelous and defamatory statements or at the request of the author.

SCREENING FOR PLAGIARISM POLICY

LUMEN Publishing adheres to the international policies against plagiarism. LUMEN Publishing is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc, since 2015 and uses CrossCheck platform for plagiarism detection, including Turnitin.

Before submitting articles to reviewers, those are first checked for plagiarism, by a member of the editorial team.

Plagiarism is the exposing of another person’s thoughts or words as though they were your own, without permission, credit, or acknowledgment, or because of failing to cite the sources properly. Plagiarism can take diverse forms, from literal copying to paraphrasing the work of another. In order to properly judge whether an author has plagiarized, we emphasize the following possible situations:

  • An author can literally copy another author’s work- by copying word by word, in whole or in part, without permission, acknowledge or citing the original source. This practice can be identified through comparing the original source and the manuscript/work who is suspected of plagiarism.
  • Substantial copying implies for an author to reproduce a substantial part of another author, without permission, acknowledge or citation. The substantial term can be understood both in terms of quality as quantity, being often used in the context of Intellectual property. Quality refers to the relative value of the copied text in proportion to the work as a whole.
  • Paraphrasing involves taking ideas, words or phrases from a source and crafting them into new sentences within the writing. This practice becomes unethical when the author does not properly cite or does not acknowledge the original work/author. This form of plagiarism is the more difficult form to be identified.
POLICY FOR AUTHORSHIP 

LUMEN Publishing House adheres to the definitions accepted by Washington University, regarding the authorship on scientific and scholarly publications.

According to WU, „Scientific and scholarly publications, defined as articles, abstracts, presentations at professional meetings and grant applications, provide the main vehicle to disseminate findings, thoughts, and analysis to the scientific, academic, and lay communities.(…) For the authors of such work, successful publication improves opportunities for academic funding and promotion while enhancing scientific and scholarly achievement and repute. (…) „

According to WU, authorship can be defined as the individual (s) who has/have made substantial intellectual contributions to a scientific investigation. All authors should meet the following three criteria (all the persons that meet these criteria should be mentioned as author):

  • Scholarship: Contribute significantly to the conception, design, execution, and/or analysis and interpretation of data.
  • Authorship: Participate in drafting, reviewing, and/or revising the manuscript for intellectual content.
  • Approval: Approve the manuscript to be published.

An administrative relationship, acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of a research group alone does not constitute authorship.

Lead Author (First Author)

In the case of publications with multiple authors, one author should assume the role of lead author. Even in different publications, the lead author is different to the first author; in all LUMEN Publishing Journals, the lead author is considered to be the first author and corresponding author. We admit exceptions, based on an all authors’ request, for the corresponding author to be mentioned as being different to the lead author, with special mention, and is placed as the last author. Authors should decide to be equally responsible for the paper; in this case, they are mentioned in alphabetical order, with the acknowledgement that all authors have an equal contribution to the article.

Co-authors – “All co-authors of a publication are responsible for:

  • Authorship: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors acknowledge that they meet the authorship criteria set above. A co-author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
  • Approval: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors are acknowledging that they have reviewed and approved the manuscript.
  • Integrity: Each co-author is responsible for the content of all appropriate portions of the manuscript, including the integrity of any applicable research.
  • An individual retains the right to refuse co-authorship of a manuscript if s/he does not satisfy the criteria for authorship.”
FEES |

Following the payment of the publication fee only after acceptance confirmation from LUMEN (as it is or as a result of revision applied after peer-review), the claimed back the publication fee is not accepted, except in case LUMEN is responsible the failure to publish the article.

Statements of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, content similarity with other texts of the author’s own texts or other authors – including coauthors – greater than 10%, will be excluded from publishing without the reimbursement of the payments already made.

If there are disputes between the organizer (LUMEN) and author/authors, the LUMEN Ethics Committee will propose a solution, made known to the author/authors and possibly other persons directly concerned. If this is not accepted by one party, it will seek the opinion of the Ethics Committee of the institution of affiliation of the author/authors involved. If even after this surgery does not clarify the situation will be signaled mediation, calling the services of an authorized mediator.

By registering to LUMEN conferences, I thereby declare that I read, understood and accepted those rules, which I undertake to respect.