The publisher takes a neutral position with regard to claims on disputed territories, place names, and international boundaries.
All authors have the opportunity to publish the results of their work regardless of their location or affiliation. Authors are free to choose place names based on their own interpretation of local customs, institutional and national regulations, and research community norms. The decision on whether a work is fit for publication should not be influenced by nor contingent on how these places are presented in maps, affiliations, and elsewhere in the content of the work.
We believe that the publisher should not take political positions and should not support political parties or endorse political candidates.
We achieve this by being politically neutral (which includes not donating to political parties or endorsing politically-driven boycotts) while respecting the editorial independence of the media in respect of our journalist content. This means that while editorial content in our publications might sometimes take a political position, it should not be seen as a reflection or otherwise of the company’s position. Editorial content is not influenced by the company and vice versa.
We believe that driving open research is of great and increasing importance to advancing discovery.
We believe that the publication requirements of our authors are best served via the availability of, and choice offered by, a mixed model of publishing. This allows authors to publish in the journal of their choice while meeting their funder requirements.
We achieve this by enabling our authors, where funding permits, to publish open access within a range of subscription journals.
We believe that the subscription model remains relevant as it is the best way to provide sustainable and widespread access to journals with significant editorial investment and very low acceptance rates and to ensure that researchers without funding still have a route to publish.
We achieve this by providing a range of journals to suit the individual needs and preferences of our customers and we will continue to sustain subscription journals for the foreseeable future.
We believe that it is important that, as a global publisher, we take account of the local rules and regulations in the countries in which the published content is distributed.
We achieve this by supporting researchers in complying with the rules and regulations that apply locally to the place where they do their research; working to minimize the impact of local laws on our central duty to ensure that our authors’ content reaches the widest possible global audience and that their ability to participate in international scientific endeavors is not restricted; maximizing access to content while complying with local regulations and international sanctions; and remaining neutral with regards to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
We believe that third parties should be able to reproduce material from our publications and online products as part of another publication, product or origin at a conference, presentation or app.
Please use our permission request form if necessary.
We believe that all the content we publish should be easily identifiable and that there should be a persistent link to its location on the Internet.
We achieve this by assigning a DOI to every suitable piece of content and including the DOIs of referenced articles in the bibliographic reference lists.
We believe that it is vital to protect our authors against infringement of intellectual property, while also considering the sensitivities and concerns of the research community.
We achieve this by proactively identifying, monitoring, and taking action against potential instances of infringement to ensure that any threats to the intellectual property rights of our authors are targeted, disrupted and, where possible, closed down. Any concerns about online piracy or physical counterfeiting can be reported to us by emailing at info@pleiadesonline.com or to Springer Nature’s anti-piracy team at anti-piracy@springernature.com.
We believe that as a progressive publisher, we should support authors who wish to share their research on scholarly collaboration networks.
We achieve this by encouraging authors to share articles using open access or SharedIt links. We ask that intellectual property rights are respected and that systems are used that maintain links to the scientific record while also allowing us, as the publisher, to track and report on usage to relevant authors and librarians.
Pleiades Publishing is monitoring ongoing developments in this area closely and will review (and update) these policies as appropriate.
AI Authorship. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria. Notably, an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs. The use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript.
Generative AI Images. The fast-moving area of generative AI image creation has resulted in novel legal copyright and research integrity issues. As publishers, we strictly follow existing copyright law and best practices regarding publication ethics. While legal issues relating to AI-generated images and videos remain broadly unresolved, Springer Nature journals are unable to permit its use for publication.
Exceptions are images/art obtained from agencies that we have contractual relationships with that have created images in a legally acceptable manner. Other exceptions to this policy include images and video that are directly referenced in a piece that is specifically about AI and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
As we expect things to develop rapidly in this field in the near future, we will review this policy regularly and adapt it if necessary.
Please note: Not all AI tools are generative. The use of non-generative machine learning tools to manipulate, combine or enhance existing images or figures should be disclosed in the relevant caption upon submission to allow a case-by-case review.
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