Authorship Guidelines
The guidelines presented in the following are based on the ones of other interdisciplinary journals, in particular PLOS journals, and follow best practices in ethical publishing, as suggested by the The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Collective Dynamics adheres to the guidelines published by COPE, but is not a member of COPE.
Revised April 2022.
Who is an Author?
Collective Dynamics directly follows the recommendation for defining authorship, as suggested by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Listed authors on manuscripts must meet ALL of the following four criteria and everyone meeting these criteria must be included in the author list (copied verbatim from the reference above):
- “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 revising 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 in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.”
The authors of manuscripts submitted to Collective Dynamics are publicly responsible for content presented.
Author Contributions and Acknowledgements
The contributions of all authors must be described. Collective Dynamics follows the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) guidelines and authors are required to list the contributions of each author separately.
Authors are required to include a separate acknowledgements section that lists all contributors of the manuscript who do not meet the criteria for authorship, e.g., pure technical or writing assistance, and all financial and material support. It is expected that those being acknowledged have given their permission to be named.
Corresponding Author
The corresponding author is the author who submits a manuscript to Collective Dynamics.
Before publication, the corresponding author ensures that manuscripts adhere to all Collective Dynamics guidelines, that all authors agree to the manuscript being submitted, having seen the final draft, and during the peer review process the corresponding author liaises with Collective Dynamics on behalf of all authors.
After publication, the corresponding author is the main contact for the paper and informs all authors of any matters relevant to the paper, ensuring any actions required for the paper are taken in a timely manner. Collective Dynamics permits multiple contacts to be named on published papers.
Author List Changes
Changes to the author list of a manuscript after submission, such as additions, deletion, and changes in the order of authors, requires agreement of all authors and must be requested and fully justified by the corresponding author on behalf of all authors. Collective Dynamics reserves the right to make editorial decisions on manuscripts depending on the appropriateness of proposed author list changes.
Changes to authorship after publication or authorship disputes may result in corrections or retractions of papers, and Collective Dynamics will not help to reconcile any such issues.
Collective Dynamics deals with changes in authorship according to the COPE guidelines.
Author Identification
Collective Dynamics encourages all authors to provide ORCID identifiers on manuscripts. These will be published and the auto-update feature implemented by Crossref will ensure that the ORCID profiles of authors are updated automatically.
Role of Editors and Reviewers
Editors should consult the author list and author affiliations to avoid inviting reviewers with competing interests.
Editors and reviewers should consult the author list and author affiliations to ensure they have no competing interests related to a manuscript under peer review, and they should raise any concerns they have regarding author list, author affiliations, and possible competing interests.
