Implementing Contributor Roles at PLOS

Helen Atkins

Director, Publishing Services

PLOS

10 December 2014

Project CRediT Workshop

1

Overview

• Some background on PLOS• Author Contributions at PLOS – Current State• Implementing a New Contributor Role Taxonomy

3

Who is PLOS?

• The largest not-for-profit Open Access publisher

– 4,500 submissions per month

• The publisher of seven Open Access journals

• Based in San Francisco, US, and Cambridge, UK

• Self-sustaining since late 2010

4

PLOS BiologyOctober, 2003

PLOS MedicineOctober, 2004

PLOS Community JournalsJune-September, 2005 October, 2007

PLOS ONEDecember,2006

5

PLOS ONE: The World’s First Mega-journal

• Editorial criteria• Scientifically rigorous• Ethical• Properly reported• Conclusions supported by the data

• Editors and reviewers do not ask• How important is the work?• Which is the relevant audience?

• Everything that deserves to be published, will be published• Therefore, the journal is not artificially limited in size

• Use online tools to sort and filter scholarly content after publication, not before

6

Corresponding Author - at SubmissionAuthor Contributions: conceived and designed the experimentsPlease enter the initials of each author who conceived and designed the experiments for this manuscript separated by a space.

Author Contributions: performed the experimentsPlease enter the initials of each author who performed the experiments for this manuscript separated by a space.

Author Contributions: analyzed the dataPlease enter the initials of each author who analyzed the data for this manuscript separated by a space.

Author Contributions: contributed reagents/materials/analysis toolsPlease enter the initials of each author who contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools for this manuscript separated by a space.Author Contributions: wrote the manuscriptPlease enter the initials of each author who wrote the manuscript separated by a space.Author Contributions: otherPlease describe any additional contributions, followed by a colon, then followed by the initials of all applicable authors. Each set of initials should be separated by a space. If you have multiple other contributions to enter, please separate each with a full stop. Example: Designed the software used in analysis: BC AL CS. Obtained permission for use of cell line: BC ALOur criteria for authorship are based on the 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Authorship and Contributorship'. Individuals whose contributions fall short of authorship should instead be mentioned in the Acknowledgments.

7

All PLOS journals base their criteria for authorship on those outlined in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, which are excerpted below. The contributions of all authors must be described. Contributions that fall short of authorship should be mentioned in the Acknowledgments section of the paper.

Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 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. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, 3, and 4. When a large, multicenter group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship/contributorship defined above, and editors will ask these individuals to complete journal-specific author and conflict-of-interest disclosure forms. When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and identify all individual authors as well as the group name. Journals generally list other members of the group in the Acknowledgments. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship. All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authorship Criteria

8

If Authors are Added Post-Submission

9

In the Final Article

10

Implementing the New Contributor Taxonomy

• We can just swap in the new categories… but• Questions/Challenges

– How do we ensure the authors understand the difference between the criteria for authorship and those for acknowledgement (e.g., funding acquisition)

– Should we use the Contributor taxonomy for those who are acknowledged?

– Should each of the authors confirm his/her own contributions?

Questions?

11