Sponsorship Terms & Conditions

1. Parties and Scope

This agreement is between Contemporary Innovations Journal, owned by Lujosh Ventures Ltd ("the Publisher"), and the sponsoring organisation or individual ("the Sponsor"). It governs the financial sponsorship of an open-access book or chapter published by the Publisher, at the tier selected by the Sponsor and set out in Section 2 below.

2. Sponsorship Packages and Entitlements

The Publisher offers four sponsorship tiers. Sponsorship operates by discounting the Article/Chapter Processing Charge ("APC") that authors would otherwise pay, as originally stated in the Call for Chapters for the book in question ("the original APC"). The entitlements below apply to the tier the Sponsor selects and pays for at the time of application. Where a benefit is not listed for a given tier, it is not included at that tier. In the event of any conflict between this table and the formal sponsorship agreement issued to the Sponsor, the formal agreement governs.

The Publisher reserves the right to amend, discontinue, or introduce sponsorship tiers at its discretion. Any such change applies to new applications only and does not alter the entitlements of a Sponsor whose agreement has already been finalised.

3. No Copyright or Ownership

• Sponsorship does not transfer, confer, or create any copyright, intellectual property rights, or ownership interest in the sponsored book, chapter, its content, metadata, or any derivative works.
• The Sponsor does not acquire any right to reproduce, modify, distribute, or commercially exploit the sponsored content beyond what is permitted under the Creative Commons licence applied to it, and beyond the advert placement described in Section 5.
• Copyright in each chapter or book remains with the respective authors, who license the Publisher and the public under open-access terms.

4. No Editorial Control

• The Sponsor has no right to influence, approve, reject, or modify the content, conclusions, peer review process, or editorial decisions relating to any sponsored book or chapter, at any tier.
• The Publisher and editors retain full editorial independence. Sponsorship does not guarantee any particular treatment of the Sponsor's products, services, or interests in any publication, and the placement of a sponsor advert under Section 5 does not constitute editorial endorsement of the Sponsor's products or services.
• Any attempt to exert editorial influence will be grounds for termination of the sponsorship agreement without refund.

5. Sponsor Advert Placement

• Where the Sponsor's package includes a full-colour page advert, the Sponsor is responsible for supplying print-ready artwork, in the format and specifications provided by the Publisher, by the deadline stated in the formal sponsorship agreement.
• The advert must relate to the Sponsor's own products or services. It must not be false, misleading, defamatory, obscene, or in violation of applicable Nigerian advertising standards, and must not disparage any competitor, author, or third party.
• The Publisher reserves the right to reject or request revision of any advert that does not meet these requirements, or that it reasonably considers inconsistent with the scholarly character of the publication. Rejection of non-compliant artwork does not entitle the Sponsor to a refund if a compliant replacement is not supplied by the agreed deadline.
• The number and position of advert placements (end of every chapter, end of the first and last chapter, end of the last chapter only, or end of the chapter of choice) are determined by the Sponsor's package tier, as set out in Section 2, and are subject to the placement availability rules in Section 6.
• The Publisher is not responsible for, and makes no warranty regarding, the products or services described in any Sponsor advert.

6. Combining Sponsorships Within a Book

• More than one sponsorship may apply to the same book at the same time, at different chapters, provided their advert placements do not conflict.
• A Gold sponsorship occupies the advert placement at the end of the book's first and last chapter only. A Silver sponsorship occupies the advert placement at the end of the book's last chapter only. Every other chapter's end-of-chapter advert placement remains available for individual Titanium sponsorship, allowing a separate Sponsor to sponsor a specific chapter within a book that already carries Gold or Silver sponsorship.
• A Platinum sponsorship occupies the advert placement and covers the APC of every chapter in the book. A book under Platinum sponsorship is not available for concurrent Gold, Silver, or Titanium sponsorship of any of its chapters.
• Before finalising a Titanium application, the Publisher will confirm which chapters of the requested book remain available for chapter-level sponsorship.
• Where a chapter is already covered by a Gold or Silver book-level discount, a Titanium sponsorship of that same chapter tops up the discount to 100% for that chapter's APC, in addition to (where the advert placement is available) the chapter-end advert described in Section 2.

7. APC Discount and Open Access

• Open Access status for a chapter follows from payment, in full, of that chapter's APC (as reduced by any applicable sponsorship discount under Section 2). Sponsorship does not itself grant Open Access; it reduces or, at a 100% discount, eliminates the amount the author must pay to achieve it.
• Where a chapter's APC is discounted by 100% (Platinum, for every chapter in the book; Titanium, for the sponsored chapter; or a chapter topped up to 100% under Section 6), no further payment is required from the author and the chapter is published Open Access on that basis.
• Where a chapter's APC is only partially discounted (Gold: 50%; Silver: 25%), the author remains responsible for the balance of the APC, and the chapter is published Open Access once that balance is paid.
• Open Access status, once achieved for a chapter under this section, is irrevocable for that chapter and continues regardless of any later change to or termination of the sponsorship relationship.

8. Acknowledgement and Recognition

• In consideration of the sponsorship payment, the Publisher will display the Sponsor's name and/or logo as set out for the selected package in Section 2 — on the book's digital landing page, in the book's front matter, and/or in the book's acknowledgement section, as applicable.
• Sponsor profile listings on the CIJ website, where included in the package, are limited to the Sponsor's name, logo, and a short organisational description supplied by the Sponsor.
• The Publisher reserves the right to remove or modify acknowledgements if the Sponsor's organisation becomes subject to legal proceedings, ethical controversy, or reputational issues that the Publisher reasonably considers damaging to the Publisher's or authors' reputation.

9. Certificate of Sponsorship

A certificate of sponsorship is issued to Platinum, Gold, and Silver sponsors following publication. This benefit is not included at the Titanium tier.

10. Impact Reporting

Where included in the Sponsor's package, the Publisher will provide an annual impact report (download statistics, geographic reach, and citation data where available) for as long as the sponsored content remains openly accessible. This benefit is not included at the Titanium tier.

11. Payment

• Sponsorship payments are due in full before the acknowledgement is published or, where agreed, in instalments as specified in the formal sponsorship agreement for the selected package.
• Payments are non-refundable once the acknowledgement has been published and/or repository metadata has been submitted.
• The Sponsor is responsible for any applicable taxes, banking fees, or currency conversion costs.

12. Withdrawal and Cancellation

• The Sponsor may withdraw before the acknowledgement is published, subject to reimbursement of reasonable costs already incurred by the Publisher.
• If a sponsored book or chapter is withdrawn, retracted, or not published due to editorial reasons outside the Publisher's control, the Publisher will refund the sponsorship payment in full or offer to redirect it to another book, at the Sponsor's choice.

13. Logo and Branding

• The Sponsor grants the Publisher a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display the Sponsor's logo and name for the purposes of acknowledgement as described in Section 7.
• The Publisher will not use the Sponsor's logo in any other context without prior written consent.
• The Sponsor must ensure any logo, branding, or advert materials provided do not infringe third-party intellectual property rights.

14. Publicity

Both parties may issue a press release or announcement about the sponsorship by mutual agreement (a press release is a standard inclusion for Platinum sponsorship, per Section 2, and may be arranged by request for other tiers). The Sponsor may state in its own communications that it has sponsored a named open-access book or chapter published by Contemporary Innovations Journal, owned by Lujosh Ventures Ltd, provided the statement is accurate, correctly reflects the tier and scope of sponsorship, and is not misleading.

15. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Any disputes will be resolved through good-faith negotiation, and failing that, through the courts of Nigeria.

16. Contact

For sponsorship enquiries: dop@cij.com.ng