Authorship and Disclosures

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Authorship and Contributorship

Definitions

Effective April 11, 2018: Author: Neurology defines an author as a person who has made a substantive intellectual contribution to the submitted manuscript. A substantive contribution includes one or more of the following:

•            Design or conceptualization of the study

•            OR major role in the acquisition of data

•            OR analysis or interpretation of the data

•            OR drafting or revising the manuscript for intellectual content

Professional writers employed by pharmaceutical companies or other academic, governmental, or commercial entities who have drafted or revised the intellectual content of the paper must be included as authors.

It is the responsibility of the authors of a manuscript to designate the Corresponding Author, determine author order, and decide which persons in the study are authors and which are contributors according to the journal’s criteria. Please note that the author list/author order MUST be finalized prior to first submission. Author addition, omission, or change in author order will require additional documentation. See Changes in Authorship after Submission.

Co-investigator:Neurology defines a Co-investigator as a person who does not meet the criteria for authorship of a study, but who acted as a co-investigator or study coordinator for a multicenter trial.

Contributor:Neurology defines a Contributor as a person who does not meet the criteria for authorship of the study, but who has contributed in other ways, such as collection of data; technical assistance; acquisition of funding; supervision of personnel; contribution of drugs, reagents, equipment, or participants; or editing the manuscript for nonintellectual content.

Authorship Criteria

  • Manuscripts submitted for publication must list all authors, including the person who drafted the original manuscript. The Journal considers ghostwriting (undisclosed authorship) unethical (see Scientific Misconduct and Breaches of Publication Ethics).
  • All those qualifying for authorship must give final approval of the version to be published and take responsibility for the conduct of the research.
  • All those qualifying for authorship must indicate their contributions to the article in Appendix 1 in tabular format (and on the Authorship Agreement form should the manuscript reach provisional acceptance). The appendix should appear before the reference section. The Author Appendix is excluded from total word count.

  • Appendix 1 Example: Authors

    Name

    Location

    Contribution

    John Agate, MD

    University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

    Design and conceptualized study; analyzed the data; drafted the manuscript for intellectual content

    Barbara L. Nieman, MD, PhD

    NIH, Bethesda

    Major role in the acquisition of data

    Alex Shanahan, MD

    Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

    Interpreted the data; revised the manuscript for intellectual content

    Elena Davies, MD

    Queen Square, London, UK

    Interpreted the data; revised the manuscript for intellectual content

     

 

  • ​One author, the Principal Investigator or Guarantor, must have access to all the data and take responsibility for the data, accuracy of the data analysis, and the conduct of the research.
  • One author, designated the Corresponding Author, must be responsible for all communications with the Journal throughout the review process, including ensuring that all authors have approved the final submitted version, revised versions before they are submitted, and the final accepted version of the manuscript. Once designated in the system, the Corresponding Author cannot be changed (see Changes in Authorship after Submission). The Corresponding Author is also responsible for determining which individuals meet criteria for authorship.
  • Author also takes responsibility for listing Co-investigators (who do not qualify for authorship) in a "Co-investigators" Table (Appendix 2) at the end of the article before the references and Contributors (who do not qualify for authorship) in the Acknowledgment Section. The Co-investigators Appendix is excluded from total word count.
  • All Authors must complete the Authorship Agreement Form, the Disclosure Agreement Form, and the Publication Agreement forms if the manuscript reaches provisional acceptance. If the Author's employer is the federal government, the Author must indicate this in the appropriate place on the Publication Agreement Form. If an author has participated in the study as a Work-made-for-hire, that author will be instructed to complete and fax to the Journal office a form indicating the company's or institution's transfer of copyright to the American Academy of Neurology.
  • To note common first authors, mark an asterisk following each of the common authors' highest academic degree in the author byline. Identify the asterisk at the end of the same page and state, "These authors contributed equally to the manuscript." Note that when working through the online submission process; however, only one author can be designated as the corresponding author in the system.
  • Simply acting as a co-investigator or study coordinator for a multicenter study does not constitute authorship. Contributions such as supporting the study, contributing materials or participants, general supervision of study personnel, technical assistance, or collecting data do not in themselves constitute authorship (see Co-investigator and Contributor Criteria). Authorship implies that an individual has made a substantial intellectual contribution to the study.
  • "Guest" or "honorary" authorship based solely on position (e.g., research supervisor, department head) is not permitted.

Authors representing a study group

Author bylines ending with “on behalf of” or “for” a study group indicate that:

  • The authors represent the group and that other members of the group are not authors
  • Members of the study group are considered co-investigators
  • Co-investigators should be listed in an Appendix at the end of the article
  • Co-investigators do not have to complete authorship or disclosure forms; they are indexed in PubMed as Collaborators.
  • Authors should submit a table as Appendix 1 titled “Authors”. Include name, degree(s), location, role(s), and contribution(s) to the study. PubMed will index these individuals as authors.
  • Authors should submit a table as Appendix 2 for other members (co-investigators) titled “Co-investigators” Include name, degree(s), location, role(s), and contributions. PubMed will index these individuals as Collaborators
  • Other contributors should be listed in the Acknowledgement section.

Study Groups in which all members qualify as authors

The addition of “and the X Study Group” (rather than “for” or “on behalf of”) to the byline indicates that:

  • Every member of the study group is an author and fulfills the Neurology criteria for authorship.
  • All members of the group must complete authorship, disclosure, and publication agreement forms
  • Members’ names will all be included in the byline of the online version (the version of record) of the journal and indexed as authors in PubMed
  • The short-form version of the article published in print will include the names of major investigators primarily involved in the design or analysis or who took the lead in writing the initial draft with the addition of the extension ‘and the X Study Group.’
  • All members’ names and email addresses must be entered in the tracking system when the manuscript is submitted.
  • Authors should submit a table as Appendix 1 titled “Authors”. Include name, degree(s), location, role(s), and contribution(s).
  • Other contributors should be listed in the Acknowledgement section

Study Groups in which some members qualify as authors and others qualify as co-investigators

If a portion of individuals within the study group qualify as authors and others do not:

  • The short article byline will include the names of major investigators primarily involved in the design or analysis or who took the lead in writing the initial draft and the addition of the extension will indicate “and other individuals in the X study group.”
  • The full online byline will list all those from the study group who qualified as authors and the online extension will read ‘for’ or ‘on behalf of’ the X Study Group.   
  • All names and email addresses of those designated as authors must be entered in the tracking system when the manuscript is submitted.
  • Authors should submit a table as Appendix 1 titled “Authors”. Include name, degree(s), location and role(s).
  • Authors should submit a table as Appendix 2 for other members not designated as authors (if any) titled “Co-investigators.” Include name, degree(s), location, role(s), and contributions. PubMed will index these individuals as Collaborators.
  • Other contributors should be listed in the Acknowledgement section

Coinvestigator and Contributor Criteria

Any members of a study group who qualify as authors according to the Authorship Criteria must be listed individually in the author byline and the name of the study group entity should appear at the end of the byline after the words "for" or "on behalf of." These authors will be required to complete author forms should the manuscript reach provisional acceptance. Members of study groups who do not qualify as authors should not be listed individually in the byline and will not be required to complete forms.

Co-investigators for multicenter trials who do not meet the criteria for Authorship must be listed in a "Co-investigators" appendix including name, degree(s), location and role(s), and contributions formatted as shown below.  Neurology will not publish links to Web sites listing Co-investigators or Contributors.

Contributors who do not meet the criteria for Authorship must be listed in the Acknowledgments section with roles and affiliations in parentheses (see Acknowledgments).

Disclosures for Co-investigators and Contributors are not published. Although Co-investigators and Contributors are not required to submit disclosures, the Corresponding Author should be aware of any disclosures that they may have.


Appendix 2 Example: Co-investigators 
 

Name

Location

Role

Contribution

Janet Worth, MD, PhD

Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville

Director of Coordinating Center

Led and coordinated communication among sites

John Reitz, MD

Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland

Site Investigator

Coordinated imaging for site

Silvia Kristensson, MD, MSc

Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Site Investigator

Performed biostatistical review of results

Albert Reitz, MD, PhD

Tulane University

Chair, Data and Safety Monitoring Committee

Reviewed all SAEs, protocol, and subject deviations

Changes in Authorship after Submission

The corresponding author must alert and provide an explanation to the editorial office if there is any change in authorship status (addition, omission, or author order) after manuscript submission. The corresponding author must request and gather letters of agreement from all authors of the manuscript including the author who is being added or omitted. At revision, these statements should be uploaded as Additional files in the online system. See Supplemental Data/Additional Files.

Acknowledgments

The Acknowledgments section allows authors space to recognize and express appreciation to others who have contributed to the study but do not meet the Authorship or Co-investigators Criteria. In this section, list those who have collected data; provided technical assistance; acquired funding; supervised personnel; contributed drugs, reagents, equipment, or participants; or edited the manuscript for non-intellectual content. The list must include the contributors' affiliations and the specific contributions made by each. The Acknowledgment section is also reserved for authors to thank individuals who have provided general advice or guidance, review of the manuscript, and technical help. For those helping in preparation of the manuscript, specify how they assisted (e.g., performed substantive or technical editing, copyedited the manuscript, prepared tables or figures, or provided clerical assistance).

Conflict of Interest and Disclosure

Policy

Neurology complies with the position of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) on "Conflict of Interest." Conflict of interest for authors is defined as "financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work." In addition, Neurology has adopted the Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Policy of the American Academy of Neurology. This policy requires complete disclosure from all authors of all financial relationships or other competing interests that could be perceived as biasing the study, whether or not this support was related to the subject of the manuscript.

Authorship, Disclosure, and Publication Agreements

All those qualifying for authorship are required to submit Authorship, Disclosure, and Publication Agreement Forms if the manuscript reaches provisional acceptance. Each author will receive an email notification and directions for accessing and completing the forms on the Web site at the appropriate time. The Corresponding Author is responsible for ensuring that all authors complete these agreements. It is critical that the Corresponding Author include all other authors' correct email addresses in the online submission; doing so will prevent delays in notifications to authors to complete required forms at the appropriate times. Members of a group who do not meet the criteria for authorship are not required to fill out these agreements.

Disclosure forms must include all financial relationships (and those of immediate family members) from the past two years, regardless of whether these relationships are related to the study described in the submitted manuscript. If the study period of the submitted manuscript exceeds two years, then financial relationships relevant to the topic must also be disclosed. Failure to reveal all pertinent information constitutes a breach of publication ethics and will result in consequences (see Scientific Misconduct and Breaches of Publication Ethics). Note that after an author has completed the disclosure form for a manuscript, the form is accessible from the Personal Information area in the manuscript tracking system for updating at any time.

Although complete disclosure is required on the online form and displayed in the online publication, the manuscript itself must contain all disclosures deemed to be relevant to the submitted manuscript. Authors should err on the side of more complete disclosure if there is a question about which disclosures are relevant.

Items to be included on the disclosure forms

Sample disclosure statement (title page)

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