LATEST THINKING Terms and Conditions

Version 1.0, effective 2026-10-13

These Terms explain how to use lt.org, our content services and the LATEST THINKING researcher app. They cover watching and sharing content, our manually produced formats, and creating videos through the app. The licence shown for each item determines how that content may be reused.

1. About LT and these Terms

The service is provided by Latest Thinking GmbH, Am Feenteich 4, 22085 Hamburg, Germany, registered in Hamburg under HRB 134575 (“LT”, “we” or “us”). Contact [email protected] about these Terms, permissions or content concerns. Our Privacy Policy explains personal-data processing separately; these Terms are not blanket consent to that processing.

You can browse public content without a researcher account or a viewing fee. Creating videos through the app requires registration and agreement to the applicable creator terms. Institutional services and commissioned productions may involve a separate paid agreement. Browsing does not create a payment obligation or give LT rights in material you have not submitted.

Sections 6 and 7 govern app contributions. Section 8 addresses productions arranged outside the app. Existing production and contributor agreements remain in force; this document does not retrospectively change them. A separate agreement governs its specific service, but cannot remove rights already granted to others under a Creative Commons licence or override mandatory law.

2. Our content formats

LT Publication is an app-created video about a published research work, normally organised into research question, method and findings. It is intended as a scholarly publication. Its recordings are processed through LT’s automated production workflow and reviewed by the researcher before formal publication.

LT Publication Plus is a manually produced scholarly video about research, typically presented in five chapters. Production may include a green screen, filming by a production team and manual editing. It does not follow the automated app workflow.

LT Researcher Portrait is an app-created video introducing a researcher and their interests. It follows the app’s production and approval process but is not a scholarly publication, does not require a source publication and does not receive a DOI. The name refers to the video, not the researcher’s profile page on lt.org.

Other formats include manually recorded researcher interviews, non-publication videos, educational content and, where offered, podcasts and other audiovisual content. Appearing on LT does not by itself make such an item a scholarly publication. The item’s description identifies its format and any publication identifier.

3. Which content licence applies

LT uses two content licences. The table shows which applies to each product or format, subject to valid earlier grants and any specific licence notice accompanying the item. These licences govern reuse of finished content. The permissions contributors give LT to produce, publish and promote it are addressed separately in sections 7 and 8.

Standard LT License is the name of LT’s own content licence set out in section 4. It allows viewing, linking and the defined personal uses; institutional embedding or republication requires a separate LT agreement. It is not a Creative Commons licence.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) is the open licence used for LT Publication Plus. It permits broader reuse, including by institutions, as explained in section 5. Manual production alone does not make another format CC-licensed.

Check the content page and accompanying licence notice before reuse. A valid Creative Commons grant takes priority over section 4 for that item; it does not automatically cover LT’s branding, the website or other content. Existing lawful licences, including earlier CC grants for other formats, remain effective. Missing or changed labels do not revoke them. Contact LT if a licence is unclear. Copyright exceptions and rights in separately identified third-party material remain unaffected.

4. Content under the Standard LT License

The Standard LT License applies to the content identified in section 3. Its permissions are non-exclusive and subject to the scope below. It does not transfer ownership of the content.

For everyone. You may watch the content, post ordinary links to its LT page and use a social platform’s native function to share an existing LT post. These permissions do not include downloading a separate copy, uploading it elsewhere or embedding it on an organisation’s website.

For the featured researcher or speaker. You may use the available LT tools to embed the unchanged item in which you are featured on your personal website, share links and supported embeds on your personal social accounts, and embed it on your individual staff-profile page within your university’s or employer’s website. This personal exception does not extend to department, project, institutional news or other organisational pages.

Limits of personal permission. You may not edit the finished LT content, make extracts, remove branding or attribution, download and re-upload a separate copy, or grant those permissions to others under this licence. Your rights in your underlying research or independent material, and uses permitted by law, remain unaffected.

For institutions and other organisations. Universities, departments, research organisations, public bodies, research projects, publishers, libraries, foundations and other organisations need a separate LT agreement to embed, upload, republish or present this content on their websites or channels. This applies equally to nonprofit, public and commercial organisations. The individual staff-page exception above, ordinary links and native shares remain free.

Additional permissions. Any additional use must also be covered by necessary author or speaker permissions and third-party rights. Permission from a researcher alone does not replace the LT agreement for the finished LT production; an LT agreement cannot grant rights LT has not received. The separate agreement defines any institutional downloads, additional uses or services. None is included automatically in the free personal service.

5. Content released under CC BY 4.0

CC BY 4.0 permits copying, sharing and adaptation, including commercial and institutional use, without an additional LT agreement. Follow the licence’s attribution requirements, retain supplied notices, link to the licence and indicate changes. Do not imply endorsement. You may not add restrictions that prevent others exercising the licensed rights.

These permissions are not revoked by later changes to these Terms or by LT ceasing to offer the content. Privacy, personality, trademark and other rights outside the licence may still need separate permission. The full licence governs. The Standard LT License in section 4 does not narrow these CC BY 4.0 permissions.

6. Creating videos through the app

The free self-service creator account is for people aged 18 or over and requires an ORCID connection. Exceptions to ORCID require a separate LT arrangement. Keep account information accurate and sign-in details secure. These creator requirements do not apply merely to viewing the public website or automatically to a manually arranged production.

For an LT Publication, you must be an author of the underlying published work. Permission or participation from an author does not make a non-author eligible to create this product. Eligible works include published monographs and book chapters; preprints are not currently eligible. ORCID authentication and an OpenAlex result do not establish all necessary authorship or reuse permissions. Every LT Publication receives a DOI, which LT assigns manually during the initial app service.

You must have the permissions needed for submitted recordings, images, scripts and other material. Do not submit unlawful, misleading or infringing material, confidential information, or sensitive information about other people without a lawful basis and the necessary permissions.

LT produces the finished video through technical editing, such as trimming silence, improving sound, adjusting framing or the background, joining chapters and producing subtitles. Automated tools, including AI, support transcription, translation, text generation and content checks. We may not change the meaning of your contribution or misleadingly represent you.

Your video approval. You review the finished video, subtitles and cover presented for approval. Check accuracy and permissions before approving. You may reject the result or record again. Automated transcription and translation can make mistakes, particularly with scientific terms. Manual subtitle editing is not part of the initial app service. Report errors or request human review of a disputed automated rejection at [email protected].

Separate AI context information. LT may provide additional information alongside or linked to your approved video, such as summaries, keyword explanations and educational background. It may use the spoken contribution, the underlying publication where relevant, and general background knowledge to explain concepts and connections. It is presented separately and clearly labelled as AI-generated, potentially inaccurate information supplied by LT, not as statements written or verified by you.

Updates to AI context information. LT may revise, replace or add such explanations over time without asking you to approve each update. Your video approval does not mean that you authored or endorsed this separate information. Context updates do not change the approved video. Materially different edits to that video still require your approval. Please report inaccurate, misleading or improperly attributed context information to [email protected] so LT can review and, where needed, correct or remove it.

Once app processing finishes, anyone with the exact preview link can currently view the finished video, poster and subtitles without signing in, including before approval. Rejected and unpublished processed files are not automatically removed from those links. Keep preview links private and contact LT if access should be restricted. This technical accessibility does not constitute approval or permission for others to reuse the material.

Formal publication of your video requires your approval and LT’s acceptance. We may decline a submission because of inaccurate claims, inconsistency with the cited work, rights or confidentiality concerns, missing permissions, or inadequate sound or image quality. We will explain the reason where reasonably possible. No submission is guaranteed publication.

7. The permissions app contributors give LT

You retain your rights in original content and research. Submission gives LT a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to store and process the material, engage necessary providers and create a preview. It does not authorise formal publication of an unapproved video.

When you approve publication, you give LT a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to host, reproduce, distribute and display the approved video with its subtitles, cover, attribution and metadata. LT may change technical formats without changing substance and authorise institutional use within the rights granted to it. You also authorise LT to make the approved video available to others under the Standard LT License in section 4.

Separately, you authorise LT to create, publish and update the AI context information described in section 6 alongside or linked to your approved video. This permission does not make you its author or imply your endorsement. It does not authorise changes to the substance of your approved video or override the data protection arrangements explained in the Privacy Policy.

Approval includes promotion of the approved video and its research through LT’s own channels, including social media and paid distribution of LT posts. There is no fixed promotional term or separate campaign approval. Use must remain in a serious scientific context, must not imply unrelated endorsement and must not add advertising inside the video. Materially different video edits require your approval.

These permissions do not grant LT rights to train AI models on your content. LT does not train its own models on submissions. External processing is explained in the Privacy Policy. These Terms do not provide a contractual share of institutional revenue; non-waivable statutory remuneration and other mandatory rights remain unaffected.

8. Manually produced content and other contributions

LT Publication Plus, interviews, educational content, podcasts and other arranged productions follow the relevant production and contributor agreement. That agreement must cover the recording, manual editing, review or approval process, publication, attribution, permitted promotion and intended licence. The app’s ORCID requirement, automated processing and approval interface do not apply automatically.

LT needs the necessary rights from authors, speakers and other rights holders before publishing or granting reuse permissions. A CC BY release must fall within those permissions. Neither participating in a recording nor merely visiting this website grants LT unrestricted new rights. New uses outside an existing agreement require the necessary additional permission. The contributor permissions in section 7 do not retrospectively extend a manual contributor’s agreement.

9. Corrections, withdrawal and content concerns

LT Publication and LT Publication Plus videos are intended as scholarly records. Significant errors, rights concerns and retraction of an underlying work may call for a correction notice, access restriction or withdrawal. They are not routinely overwritten without an explanation. LT Researcher Portrait videos and non-publication formats do not acquire a scholarly-record purpose merely by being on LT.

Report concerns to [email protected] with the relevant page and explanation. LT reviews the facts and applicable rights. A publication identifier, copyright licence or record-preservation purpose does not override privacy, personality or other mandatory rights. Removing a CC-licensed item from LT does not, by itself, revoke valid reuse rights already granted under that licence.

10. Closing an app account

You may delete your app account or contact LT for help. Closure ends account access and does not authorise publication of unfinished work. Published app videos, including LT Researcher Portrait videos, currently remain unless separately removed. Some processed unpublished files also remain. The Privacy Policy explains the actual deletion arrangements and further removal requests.

Account closure does not automatically end the licence needed for lawful continued publication. LT assesses requests for correction, erasure or restriction under applicable law. Technical limitations are not a legal reason to refuse a valid request. Closing an app account does not automatically terminate a separate manual production or institutional agreement.

11. Responsible use and availability

Do not compromise accounts, bypass security, interfere with the service or use automated access that overloads it. These rules do not prohibit reuse permitted by a content licence or mandatory law. External websites and platforms have their own terms and privacy practices.

Free services are subject to reasonable operational capacity. Material traffic, processing costs, misuse or security concerns may require proportionate temporary limits on uploads, processing or playback. We will explain significant restrictions and give advance notice where practicable. There are no automatic extra fees or conversion to a paid plan.

LT may suspend access for misuse or necessary protection, normally explaining why and allowing a response. Urgent protection or legal requirements may require immediate action. We do not promise uninterrupted availability, unchanged features or perpetual hosting. Mandatory service obligations and existing content licences remain unaffected.

12. Responsibility

Content is provided for research communication, education and information. It is not a substitute for professional advice on an individual medical, legal or other matter. Contributors are responsible for submitted and approved material and permissions within their control, but not for separate AI context information supplied by LT or changes LT introduces beyond their approval.

Liability is governed by applicable law. Nothing excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for intent, gross negligence, injury to life, body or health, or mandatory consumer and product rights.

13. Changes and applicable law

We may propose updated Terms when the service or law changes. We will explain material changes in advance and obtain agreement where required. Posting revised Terms does not itself grant new rights in existing contributions or revoke valid Creative Commons permissions.

German law applies without depriving consumers of mandatory protections in their country of habitual residence. No exclusive court jurisdiction is imposed on consumers. The published Terms show their version and effective date.