Ethics for Authors
Publication and Authorship
The authors’ central obligation is to present a concise, accurate account of the research performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to public sources of information to permit others to repeat the work.
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others used in a research project must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained privately should not be used or reported without explicit permission from the original source. Information obtained confidentially, such as through refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, cannot be used without permission.
Authors must obtain permission for any previously published materials. Proof of permission must be provided before publication. Proper credit lines must be included.
Re-use of Material from Conference Proceedings
AIP Publishing allows authors to make fair and reasonable re-use of material from their conference proceedings article. Such re-use must follow publishing ethics. Whether a new submission meets journal standards depends on overlap with prior publication and the extent of new material. Editors will decide if the re-use is appropriate. Authors reusing figures or tables must obtain copyright permission and cite the proceedings paper.
Maintaining Research Results
Research results should be recorded and maintained in a form that allows analysis and review before and after publication. Exceptions may exist to preserve privacy or patent protection.
Data fabrication, data theft, and selective reporting intended to mislead are unacceptable.
Authorship
Authorship Requirements and Responsibilities
Authorship is limited to those who have made significant contributions to the research and are accountable for the published work. All significant contributors should be offered authorship; others should be listed in the acknowledgements. AIPP follows the International Council of Medical Journal Editors’ (ICMJE) authorship criteria:
- 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 reviewing 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 and ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Mentors, supervisors and funders should not be listed as authors unless they meet these criteria; they may be included in the acknowledgements instead
Different scientific disciplines may have their own accepted standards for ‘big science’ collaborations. Before submission, the corresponding author must ensure that their paper follows the established practices of their field for relevant authorship contributions and accountability for the work.
Authorship disputes must be resolved by institutions, as AIPP is unable to arbitrate. For disputes before publication, AIPP will keep the article on hold until there is a resolution and may withdraw the article if an agreement cannot be reached.
Authors must have necessary permissions to publish the research data in accordance with the regulations of the institution where the data were collected.
AI tools such as ChatGPT cannot be listed as authors.
Responsibilities of All Authors
- Anyone who made independent contributions should be invited to be a coauthor.
- Authors must present an accurate and objective account of the research.
- Plagiarism and self-plagiarism are unacceptable.
- Prior published work must be properly cited.
- Fragmentation of research papers is not acceptable.
- Criticism in Comments or articles must be professional and substantive.
- Authors must notify the editor of issues requiring correction.
All coauthors are accountable for the integrity of the published work. Anyone unwilling to accept this responsibility should not be a coauthor.
Responsibilities of the Corresponding Author
The person designated as the corresponding author in the Manuscript Submission and Peer Review system manages communication during publication.
The corresponding author must ensure all proper coauthors are included and that all authors approve the final version. Author list and order must be finalized at submission.
- Every coauthor must have the opportunity to review the manuscript.
- Accurate contact information must be provided for all authors.
- The manuscript must not be under consideration elsewhere.
- All authors must approve submission and publication, as well as review and agree to their individual contributions in the CRediT statement.
- The author who handles post-publication communication should be indicated in the submitted manuscript.
Changes to Authorship
Changes to authorship require a detailed explanation and agreement from all authors. The editorial team will review all requests, and manuscripts may be withdrawn if unethical practices are suspected. If the change is not approved, the corresponding author may keep the byline as is or withdraw the manuscript.
Adding an author requires proof of significant contribution, such as:
- Laboratory reports
- Relevant correspondence
- Logbooks or research notes
Post-acceptance and post-publication changes are not allowed except for verified ethical reasons.
CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy)
CRediT recognizes individual contributions, reduces disputes, and facilitates collaboration. The role(s) of all authors should be listed at submission. Authors may have contributed in multiple roles. CRediT in no way changes the journal’s criteria to qualify for authorship.
For more information, please see the taxonomy website.
CRediT Classification
Conceptualization – Ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims.
Data Curation – Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later reuse.
Formal Analysis – Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.
Funding Acquisition – Acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication.
Investigation – Conducting a research and investigation process, specifically performing the experiments, or data/evidence collection.
Methodology – Development or design of methodology; creation of models.
Project Administration – Management and coordination responsibility for the research activity planning and execution.
Resources – Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analysis tools.
Software – Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.
Supervision – Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity planning and execution, including mentorship external to the core team.
Validation – Verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the overall replication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research outputs.
Visualization – Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically visualization/data presentation.
Writing/Original Draft Preparation – Creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation).
Writing/Review & Editing – Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work by those from the original research group, specifically critical review, commentary or revision – including pre- or post-publication stages.
An example of an Authors’ Contribution statement using CRediT with degree of contribution:
Amanda Green: review and editing (equal). Kerry Jones: Conceptualization (lead); writing – original draft (lead); formal analysis (lead); writing – review and editing (equal). Roberto Solis: Software (lead); writing – review and editing (equal). Hao Wang: Methodology (lead); writing – review and editing (equal). Jenny Wu: Conceptualization (supporting); Writing – original draft (supporting); Writing – review and editing (equal).