Authorship

 

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Authorship provides credit for a researcher’s contributions to a study and carries accountability. Authors are expected to fulfil the following criteria (adapted from McNutt et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Feb 2018, 201715374; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1715374115; licensed under CC BY 4.0):

 

1. Each author is expected to have made substantial contributions to -

The conception OR design of the work;

OR

Data acquisition, analysis, OR interpretation;

OR

The creation of new software used in the work;

OR

Has drafted the work OR substantively revised it

 

2. AND to have approved the submitted version (and any substantially modified version that involves the author's contribution to the study);

 

3. AND to have agreed both to be personally accountable for the author's own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work, even ones in which the author was not personally involved, are appropriately investigated, resolved, and the resolution documented in the literature.

 

 

Corresponding authors

 

Corresponding authors should ensure that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors, and that all authors receive the submission and all substantive correspondence with editors, as well as the full reviews, verifying that all data, figures and materials comply with the transparency and reproducibility standards of both the field and journal.

 

This responsibility includes but is not limited to:

(i) ensuring that original data/original figures/materials/code upon which the submission is based are preserved following best practices in the field so that they are retrievable for reanalysis;

(ii) confirming that data/figures/materials/code presentation accurately reflects the original; and

(iii) foreseeing and minimizing obstacles to the sharing of data/materials/code described in the work.

 

Any potential authorship disputes brought to the editors’ attention will be handled in line with COPE guidelines.