International Society for Medical Publication Professionals guidance regarding authorship for scholarly articles.

1. AUTHORSHIP IN THE
TIME OF COVID-19
ISMPP GUIDANCE
Diana Ribeiro
March 24, 2020

2. The problem
Photo credit: CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS

3. The problem
 Author non-responsiveness due to COVID-19
 Time-sensitive research
 Delayed scientific communication
 How to preserve the proper attribution of researchers in scholarly work?

4. Official Guidelines
 To be considered an author, researchers must fulfil the following the four
ICJME criteria:
 1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the
acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
 2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual
content; AND
 3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
 4. 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.
ICJME: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

5. Official Guidelines
 Researchers must meet ALL
criteria, otherwise they can’t be
authors
 Other contributions to the work
(e.g., medical writing assistance)
go to the acknowledgement section
 But…is this fair in the time of
pandemics?

6. What now? ISMPP guidance:
 If a researcher has previously met
criterion 1 and 2, and now is
unable to complete authorship
duties or cannot be contacted
 If there is a reasonable rationale
for thinking that the situation is
caused by COVID-19
 Include that researcher as an
author
ISMPP: International Society for Medical Publication Professionals

7. How?
 After a period of documented
unsuccessful attempts to reach the
author, proceed with the
submission, including the affected
individual as a byline author
 This inclusion of an individual as an
author should be agreed upon by
all authors that fully meet the
ICJME criteria

8. How?
 For full disclosure, provide an accompanying statement to say that ICJME
criterion 3 and/or 4 were not met by the affected author by the time of
submission
 Note that the medical journal editors and congress officials have the
discretion to accept, reject, request an adaptation of the byline, and/or a
publication statement related to authors.

9. Exceptional Times…
…ask for exceptional measures.
 ISMPP clearly says that this is a guidance to be used in limited circumstances,
in which the pandemic could prevent the disclosure of actual contributions of
authors, and thus decrease transparency.

10. References
 ISMPP Guidance:
https://www.ismpp.org/assets/images/ISMPP%20Official%20Guidance%20on%20A
uthorship%20and%20Coronavirus.pdf [accessed March 23, 2020]
 ICJME Authorship Recommendations:
http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-
responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html [accessed
March 23, 2020]