Authorship

Researchers should address issues relating to publication and authorship, especially the roles of all collaborators and contributors, at an early stage of the design of a project, recognising that, subject to legal and ethical requirements, roles and contributions may change during the research. It is advised that researchers establish clear agreements on authorship, including the order of authors, in writing, early in the project and revisit these throughout the project. Decisions on publication and authorship / contributorship should be agreed jointly and communicated to all members of the research team.

• Any person, including research students, research assistants, research officers, technical officers and other support staff, who has made a significant intellectual or practical contribution to the work and participated in a substantial way in conceiving, executing or interpreting the relevant research must be given the opportunity to be included as an author of a publication derived from that research. No person who fulfils the criteria for authorship should be excluded from the submitted work. Anyone listed as an author of any work should be prepared to take public responsibility for that work and ensure its accuracy and be able to identify their contribution to it.
• In addition to meeting the above requirements regarding publication, an author must ensure that the work of any relevant person is recognised and appropriately acknowledged in all publications derived from research to which they have made a contribution. Authors are encouraged to make use of the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT)Link opens in a new window to ensure contributions are transparent and clear.
• Authors must clearly acknowledge all sources used in their research and seek permission from any individuals if a significant amount of their work has been used in the publication. A publication which is substantially similar to other publications derived from the same research (i.e. the data set and findings stay the same with minor changes) must contain appropriate reference to the other publications.
• If a researcher has not made a significant intellectual contribution to the research (i.e. they have only been involved in initial informal discussions or generation of ideas), or to the article (i.e. they have provided translation or proofreading services, or input on the presentation of the article), they should not expect to be named as an author, although their contribution should be acknowledged.
• Authors should be aware of and give due acknowledgement of the contribution of any funder(s), where this is required and stipulated by the funder in their terms and conditions.

Further guidance can be found at the links below.

Publication

• The corresponding author should take primary responsibility for communication with journals and editors during the manuscript submission for publication process.
• A researcher who submits substantially similar work to more than one publisher should disclose that fact to the publishers at the time of submission.
• Researchers should declare any potential or actual competing interest in relation to their research when reporting their findings. See the section of Conflicts of Interest for more information. Declarations should be made in presentations and other forms of dissemination as well as in publications.
• Publication and dissemination of work electronically or on the web should be treated with the same degree of integrity as every other form of publication.
• Researchers have a responsibility to correct or retract work if any mistakes are found after publication, to protect the integrity of the research record.

Open Access

Researchers should follow guidance on good practice in open research and regulatory frameworks according to disciplinary norms, to support dissemination, reproducibility, and integrity of research outputs, noting that embargoed full access for a limited period may be relevant dependent upon funder terms and conditions.

Further Information

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core PracticesLink opens in a new window

ICMJE | Recommendations | Defining the Role of Authors and ContributorsLink opens in a new window

CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy)Link opens in a new window

UK Research Integrity Office GuidanceLink opens in a new window

Authorship | Nature PortfolioLink opens in a new window

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