👩‍🔬 General Principle

LQP welcomes legitimate complaints and appeals concerning its publishing and editorial activities.

Complaints and appeals should be submitted in good faith and should contain sufficient information to allow the matter to be properly assessed.
LQP aims to:

• Treat complainants fairly and respectfully.
• Consider complaints objectively and independently.
• Maintain appropriate confidentiality.
• Avoid conflicts of interest in handling complaints.
• Provide a reasoned response where appropriate.
• Take corrective action when a complaint is substantiated.

🧪 Complaints

A complaint may concern matters such as:

• Editorial conduct
• Peer review procedures
• Reviewer conduct
• Editorial decisions or procedures
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest
• Publication ethics
• Plagiarism or duplicate publication
• Research misconduct
• Authorship or contributorship concerns
• Informed consent or research ethics
• Data integrity
• Confidentiality or privacy
• Copyright or licensing
• Publication errors
• Concerns about published articles
• Advertising or commercial influence
• Other aspects of the journal's publishing process

Complaints should provide sufficient details and supporting information where available.

🏛 Appeals Against Editorial Decisions

Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they believe that:

• A significant factual or procedural error affected the decision.
• Important information was overlooked.
• There was a serious misunderstanding of the manuscript.
• A relevant conflict of interest may have affected the editorial process.
• There is substantial new information that could reasonably affect the decision.

An appeal should provide clear and substantive reasons.

An appeal should not be based solely on disagreement with the editor's academic judgment without providing specific grounds or evidence.

🔍 How to Submit a Complaint or Appeal

Complaints and appeals should be submitted through the official contact channel provided on the relevant LQP journal website or through the publisher's designated contact address.

The submission should include, where applicable:

• Name of the complainant
• Contact information
• Manuscript or article title
• Manuscript or article ID, if available
• DOI, if applicable
• Nature of the complaint or appeal
• Detailed explanation of the concern
• Relevant supporting evidence or documentation

Anonymous complaints may be considered where sufficient information is provided to allow a meaningful assessment.

⚖️ Editorial Decision Appeals

An appeal should normally be submitted within a reasonable period after the editorial decision.

The appeal should explain specifically why the decision should be reconsidered and should address the editorial or reviewer concerns rather than simply repeating the original submission.

The editor may:

• Reconsider the decision
• Request additional information
• Seek further independent peer review
• Ask another qualified editor to assess the matter
• Uphold the original decision

The decision following an appropriate appeal review will normally be considered final.

📌 Independence in Handling Complaints

Complaints should be handled by an individual who is appropriately independent of the matter wherever reasonably possible.

Where a complaint concerns an editor or member of the editorial team, LQP may assign the matter to another appropriate editor or publisher representative.

Where a complaint concerns the publisher or a senior publishing representative, LQP may seek an appropriately independent assessment.

Individuals with a relevant conflict of interest should not be responsible for determining the outcome of the complaint.

🔐 Complaints About Peer Review

Concerns regarding peer review may include:

1. Reviewer misconduct
2. Breach of confidentiality
3. Inappropriate reviewer comments
4. Undisclosed reviewer conflicts of interest
5. Attempts to identify authors in a double-blind review
6. Unreasonable or inappropriate review practices
7. Manipulation of the peer review process

LQP will assess such concerns and may take appropriate action where the complaint is substantiated.

🚫 Complaints Concerning Publication Ethics

Complaints involving plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, authorship manipulation, peer review manipulation, conflicts of interest, or other forms of publication misconduct will be handled under the relevant LQP publication ethics policies.

Where a clinical trial was not prospectively registered, authors must provide a clear explanation of the circumstances and provide any available registration information.

Where necessary, LQP may request information from authors, editors, reviewers, institutions, ethics committees, or other relevant parties.

Serious concerns may be investigated under the Research Misconduct Policy.

🏛 Complaints Concerning Published Articles

Concerns about a published article may include:

• Serious errors
• Unreliable findings
• Research misconduct
• Ethical violations
• Inappropriate authorship
• Plagiarism
• Duplicate publication
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest
• Problems with informed consent
• Data integrity concerns

LQP will assess credible concerns and may take appropriate post-publication action in accordance with its Corrections and Retractions Policy and other applicable policies.

📌 Confidentiality

LQP will handle complaints and appeals confidentially to the extent reasonably possible.

Information will generally be shared only with individuals who need it to assess or investigate the matter.

LQP will seek to avoid unnecessary disclosure of confidential information, personal information, or allegations before the matter has been appropriately assessed.

🔍 Protection Against Retaliation

LQP does not support retaliation against individuals who raise legitimate concerns or participate in a good-faith investigation.

Complainants should provide truthful information and should avoid knowingly making false or malicious allegations.

📌 False or Malicious Complaints

LQP recognizes the importance of distinguishing legitimate concerns from complaints submitted solely to harass, intimidate, damage reputations, or improperly influence editorial decisions.

Where a complaint is demonstrably malicious, abusive, threatening, or knowingly false, LQP may take appropriate action and may decline to pursue the matter further.

🔍 Response and Resolution

LQP will aim to acknowledge and assess complaints and appeals within a reasonable period.

The time required to resolve a matter may vary depending on:

• Complexity of the complaint
• Number of parties involved
• Need for additional documentation
• Requirement for external or institutional investigation
• Availability of relevant information

LQP will provide an appropriate response when the assessment has been completed, subject to confidentiality and legal considerations.

📌 Institutional and External Referral

Some matters may require investigation by an institution or another competent authority rather than solely by the journal or publisher.

Where appropriate, LQP may refer or communicate concerns to:

LQP may consider the findings of such investigations when determining appropriate editorial or publication action.

🔍 Appeals Concerning Authorship

Authorship disputes should first be discussed among the authors.

Where an authorship dispute cannot be resolved, LQP may request that the relevant institution or research organization investigate the matter.

LQP will follow its Authorship and Contributorship Policy when handling authorship-related concerns.

📌 Editorial and Publisher Responsibility

LQP is committed to maintaining an editorial environment that is:

• Fair
• Transparent
• Independent
• Confidential
• Academically rigorous
• Free from inappropriate commercial influence

Complaints and appeals are treated as an important mechanism for identifying and correcting problems in the publishing process.

🔍 Record Keeping

LQP may maintain appropriate records of complaints, appeals, investigations, and resulting actions.

Records will be handled in accordance with applicable confidentiality, privacy, legal, and data protection requirements.

📌 Applicability to LQP Journals

This Complaints and Appeals Policy is a publisher-level policy of Lumina Quest Publishing (LQP) and applies to all journals currently published by LQP and any journals added to the LQP publishing program in the future.

LQP is committed to addressing legitimate complaints and appeals fairly and responsibly while protecting the integrity of the editorial and scholarly publishing process.