Authorship peer review and conflicts of interest Authorship

Authorship, peer review and conflicts of interest

Authorship • Publications are the way we communicate our discoveries to others • For better or worse, publications are also how we keep score – This places some pressure not just to publish but to be placed as an author at the first or last position.

BCM Authorship Policy - Authorship An Author is one who has met each of the following three criteria: a) made a substantial contribution to the conception and design of the project, acquisition of data, the analysis and interpretation of the data, or other substantial scholarly effort b) participated in drafting and/or revising the Publication critically for important intellectual content c) approved the final version to be published. 1. Each Author should have participated sufficiently in the Publication to take public responsibility for the content. 2. Any College Personnel designated as an author for a Publication must qualify as an Author, and all who qualify as an Author should be listed.

BCM Authorship Policy Acknowledgment Anyone who does not qualify as an Author, but who has made other substantial contributions should be acknowledged, with written permission, where consistent with publisher guidelines. No one should be listed as an Author merely as an attempt to increase the likelihood of Publication. Honorary or guest authorship is not acceptable.

BCM Authorship –Ghost authorship occurs when someone makes substantial contributions to the research or writing of a Publication and is credited neither by being included in the author list or by having their efforts clearly described in the acknowledgements. It is often a practice whereby a commercial entity or other third-party prepares a Publication for another. Ghost authorship may range from authors-for-hire with the understanding that they will not be credited, to major contributors to a Publication not named as authors. College Personnel may not serve as an Author on any Publication in which ghost authorship has occurred.

BCM Authorship - resolution The Authors should discuss in advance the order of authorship and authorship roles. Disputes involving authorship are best settled by the authors themselves or by the Department Chair or Center Director or, if necessary, by the Vice President, Professionalism.

Who decides the meaning of a) made a substantial contribution to the conception and design of the project, acquisition of data, the analysis and interpretation of the data, or other substantial scholarly effort b) participated in drafting and/or revising the Publication critically for important intellectual content c) approved the final version to be published. .

The Corresponding Author • Author supervising the preparation of the manuscript • Author responsible for all correspondence during the submission/editorial process • Author responsible for deciding author order • In biomedical field the corresponding or principal is generally listed last

Peer review process Corresponding Author Editorial Office Authors’ permission Copyright transfer Permission to use copyright matl Editor Reviewer Author recommendation Accept minor revise major revise reject Editor decision Publisher

Responsibilities of Authors • Obtain approval of all authors and anyone acknowledged for the final manuscript to be submitted • Submit original work that has not been previously published nor submitted to another journal • Submit accurate data • Give appropriate attribution to the work of others • Provide permission to use any copyrighted material, even your own publications • Share materials after publication

Responsibilities of peer-reviewers (also applied to grant reviews) • have sufficient expertise to critically evaluate the submission • provide a timely review • maintain confidentiality of the review process • Have no conflict of interest

Conflicts of Interest Reviewing a manuscript/grant from someone at the same institution Reviewing a manuscript from a collaborator A potential personal financial gain or loss based on your decision A direct scientific advantage based on your review Holding a competitor's manuscript unduly long to delay publication Using information gained in a confidential review to further your own research

Publication and Intellectual Property Rights Intellectual property enters the public domain – On the date the discovery is first presented in a public forum as a poster, seminar or talk. – When it is written in a thesis or dissertation and made available to the public in a library or on line – When the dissertation is accepted by the school’s library and entered into the library’s official catalog? – On the date a publication is made public either on line or in the journal For US patents, you have one year from the publication date to file a patent application For International patents you loose all rights on the date of publication