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Action
1. Authorship has to balance the intellectual contributions to the concept, design, analysis, and
writing of the study against collecting data and other routine work. If there is no task that can
reasonably be attributed to a particular individual, then that individual should not be credited
with authorship.
2. To avoid disputes over attributing academic credit, it is helpful to decide early in the planning of a
research project who will be credited as authors, as contributors, and who will be acknowledged.
3. All authors must take public responsibility for the content of their paper. The multidisciplinary
nature of much research can make this difficult, but this can be resolved by disclosing individual
contributions.
4. In the light of current uncertainties, it is advisable to carefully read the “Advice to Authors” of
the target journal.
Conflicts of Interest
Definition
Conflicts of interest comprise those, which may not be fully apparent, and which may influence the
judgement of authors, reviewers, and editors.
They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel
misled or deceived.
They may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial.
‘Financial’ interests may include employment, research funding, stock or share ownership, payment
for lectures or travel, consultancies and company support for staff.
Action
1. Researchers, authors, and reviewers must declare such interests, where relevant, to the editors.
2. Editors should also disclose relevant conflicts of interest to their readers. If in doubt, disclose.
Sometimes editors may need to withdraw from the review and selection process for the relevant
submission.
Peer Review
Definition
Peer reviewers are external experts whom the editors choose, to provide written opinions, with the aim
of improving the study.
The working methods vary from journal to journal, but some use open procedures in which the name
of the reviewer is disclosed, together with the full or ‘edited’ report.
Action
1. Authors’ suggestions as to who might act as reviewers are often useful, but editors are not obliged
to use those suggested.
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