Editorial
Downloaded from www.ajronline.org by Univeristy of Brighton on 07/04/14 from IP address 194.81.203.94. Copyright ARRS. For personal use only; all rights reserved
Authorship: What Should Concern You?
O
ver the years, we have dedicated multiple editorials to the importance and responsibilities of authorship [1–4]. The American Journal of Roentgenology and numerous biomedical publications follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines for scientific publication (www.icmje. org). These guidelines state that to be considered an author the following criteria must be met: • “Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND • Final approval of the version to be published; AND • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.” There are more than 150 radiology journals in addition to the thousands of general medical and subspecialty journals. Unfortunately, there are significant inconsistencies for author guidelines. For example, only 41% of medical journals have strict author guidelines [2, 3, 5]. Although 29% of medical journals follow the ICMJE guidelines, only 9% require authors to define contributions to their submitted manuscripts [5]. Even when journals have requirements for meeting authorship criteria, there are not very many that limit the number of authors. We have limited the number of authors for specific article categories, although there are obviously exceptions granted for multiinstitutional studies and other circumstances in which all authors meet the criteria. The number of authors permitted by the AJR is specific to manuscript categories. The number of authors permitted for submissions in original research, reviews, technical innovations, and clinical perspectives is seven. Opinion articles have a limit of four authors and letters to the editor and replies are limited to three authors. Despite these guidelines, we still experience meeting or exceeding
the seven-author limit in 38% of published articles. This number has been consistent over the past 3–4 years [1]. The major concerns related to scientific integrity and authorship involve issues that reflect on the authors and the journal. When authors begin their project, it is important to review the ICMJE and AJR author guidelines. Only the participants in the project who clearly meet the listed authorship criteria should be included on the manuscript. Certain participants who may be involved but do not clearly meet the criteria can be acknowledged in the article. This approach needs to become part of the culture for scientific publication for multiple reasons. Timeliness and efficiency in the process to publication are important to our journal and the authors. Now that we are able to publish ahead of print, the process for priority manuscripts needs to be even more efficient. The journal staff checks the content of each submission to determine if the author guidelines have been followed (sections, pages, figures, tables, references, etc.). When the format for a given category is exceeded, the work is returned to the authors for revision. The number of authors is also reviewed and when the guidelines are exceeded, the staff asks for documentation of the authors’ contributions prior to forwarding the manuscript to the section editor for peer review. Once the peer review process is completed or the manuscript is accepted, the number and order of the authors should not be modified. Requests for authorship modifications have significant impact on the timetable for publication and are not allowed except under extenuating circumstances. When author modifications are allowed, all involved authors are asked to sign the copyright transfer agreement again before the journal can accept the suggested changes. The best approach is to make certain the appropriate authors and any acknowledgements are determined at the beginning of the project [1]. Finally, all authors must understand what they are signing when completing the copyright transfer agreement [4]. We discussed the meaning and
importance of this agreement at length in the April 2009 issue of the AJR. The statement documents that the work is original and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and has not been previously published. In addition, by signing the agreement, each author is documenting a substantive contribution to the manuscript. When serving as a guest or gift author, one is placed at risk if any misconduct is revealed related to any one or more authors on the manuscript [2, 4]. As noted, for your protection, if you did not provide content as described in the ICMJE guidelines, you should not complete the copyright transfer agreement. Minor contributions to a manuscript should be noted in the acknowledgement section. Our role is to maintain the quality and scientific integrity of the AJR. We will continue to work with authors on a case-by-case basis when authorship issues arise. More important, when preparing a manuscript for the AJR, we invite you to ask any questions regarding authorship or related issues prior to submitting the work. This will assist in preventing any potential issues during the peer review process. I will personally be happy to address any questions you may have because we want to remain an author friendly and respected journal. You may contact me at [email protected]. Thomas H. Berquist Editor in Chief [email protected] DOI:10.2214/AJR.13.12069
References 1. Berquist TH. More authorship issues. AJR 2011; 197:1031 2. Berquist TH. Authorship: did I really contribute? AJR 2009; 193:915–916 3. Berquist TH. Publication in biomedical journals: an example-based tutorial series. Part II. Was I really an author? AJR 2010; 194:1411–1412 4. Berquist TH. The copyright transfer agreement: we sign it, but do we understand it? AJR 2009; 192:849–851 5. Wager E. Do medical journals provided clear and consistent guidelines on authorship? MedGenMed 2007; 9:16
AJR:202, January 2014 1
Downloaded from www.ajronline.org by Univeristy of Brighton on 07/04/14 from IP address 194.81.203.94. Copyright ARRS. For personal use only; all rights reserved
Authorship: What Should Concern You?
O
ver the years, we have dedicated multiple editorials to the importance and responsibilities of authorship [1–4]. The American Journal of Roentgenology and numerous biomedical publications follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines for scientific publication (www.icmje. org). These guidelines state that to be considered an author the following criteria must be met: • “Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND • Final approval of the version to be published; AND • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.” There are more than 150 radiology journals in addition to the thousands of general medical and subspecialty journals. Unfortunately, there are significant inconsistencies for author guidelines. For example, only 41% of medical journals have strict author guidelines [2, 3, 5]. Although 29% of medical journals follow the ICMJE guidelines, only 9% require authors to define contributions to their submitted manuscripts [5]. Even when journals have requirements for meeting authorship criteria, there are not very many that limit the number of authors. We have limited the number of authors for specific article categories, although there are obviously exceptions granted for multiinstitutional studies and other circumstances in which all authors meet the criteria. The number of authors permitted by the AJR is specific to manuscript categories. The number of authors permitted for submissions in original research, reviews, technical innovations, and clinical perspectives is seven. Opinion articles have a limit of four authors and letters to the editor and replies are limited to three authors. Despite these guidelines, we still experience meeting or exceeding
the seven-author limit in 38% of published articles. This number has been consistent over the past 3–4 years [1]. The major concerns related to scientific integrity and authorship involve issues that reflect on the authors and the journal. When authors begin their project, it is important to review the ICMJE and AJR author guidelines. Only the participants in the project who clearly meet the listed authorship criteria should be included on the manuscript. Certain participants who may be involved but do not clearly meet the criteria can be acknowledged in the article. This approach needs to become part of the culture for scientific publication for multiple reasons. Timeliness and efficiency in the process to publication are important to our journal and the authors. Now that we are able to publish ahead of print, the process for priority manuscripts needs to be even more efficient. The journal staff checks the content of each submission to determine if the author guidelines have been followed (sections, pages, figures, tables, references, etc.). When the format for a given category is exceeded, the work is returned to the authors for revision. The number of authors is also reviewed and when the guidelines are exceeded, the staff asks for documentation of the authors’ contributions prior to forwarding the manuscript to the section editor for peer review. Once the peer review process is completed or the manuscript is accepted, the number and order of the authors should not be modified. Requests for authorship modifications have significant impact on the timetable for publication and are not allowed except under extenuating circumstances. When author modifications are allowed, all involved authors are asked to sign the copyright transfer agreement again before the journal can accept the suggested changes. The best approach is to make certain the appropriate authors and any acknowledgements are determined at the beginning of the project [1]. Finally, all authors must understand what they are signing when completing the copyright transfer agreement [4]. We discussed the meaning and
importance of this agreement at length in the April 2009 issue of the AJR. The statement documents that the work is original and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and has not been previously published. In addition, by signing the agreement, each author is documenting a substantive contribution to the manuscript. When serving as a guest or gift author, one is placed at risk if any misconduct is revealed related to any one or more authors on the manuscript [2, 4]. As noted, for your protection, if you did not provide content as described in the ICMJE guidelines, you should not complete the copyright transfer agreement. Minor contributions to a manuscript should be noted in the acknowledgement section. Our role is to maintain the quality and scientific integrity of the AJR. We will continue to work with authors on a case-by-case basis when authorship issues arise. More important, when preparing a manuscript for the AJR, we invite you to ask any questions regarding authorship or related issues prior to submitting the work. This will assist in preventing any potential issues during the peer review process. I will personally be happy to address any questions you may have because we want to remain an author friendly and respected journal. You may contact me at [email protected]. Thomas H. Berquist Editor in Chief [email protected] DOI:10.2214/AJR.13.12069
References 1. Berquist TH. More authorship issues. AJR 2011; 197:1031 2. Berquist TH. Authorship: did I really contribute? AJR 2009; 193:915–916 3. Berquist TH. Publication in biomedical journals: an example-based tutorial series. Part II. Was I really an author? AJR 2010; 194:1411–1412 4. Berquist TH. The copyright transfer agreement: we sign it, but do we understand it? AJR 2009; 192:849–851 5. Wager E. Do medical journals provided clear and consistent guidelines on authorship? MedGenMed 2007; 9:16
AJR:202, January 2014 1
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