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Publication rules |
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© National Institute for Health and Welfare
and the MORGAM Project
investigators Last updated: 19 November 2000 For more information, please contact Alun Evans (a.evans@qub.ac.uk) or Kari.Kuulasmaa (firstname.lastname@thl.fi) |
For each Agreed Publication and report, the Publication Plan identifies the Leader, other members of the Manuscript Group, target journal or a mention that it will be an internal report of the Project, and the current status.
The MMG has the responsibility for maintaining the Publication Plan. The Plan is available in the internal MORGAM site in the World Wide Web.
The MORGAM publication policy is designed to encourage scientific publication of all types, while maintaining the highest quality of such publications and ensuring the legitimate interests of all MORGAM participants.
This policy refers to written or oral presentations of unpublished MORGAM data (including data accepted for publication but not yet published). No such data can be presented or published without the consent of the responsible person of each MPC.
These rules relate to the risk and genetic components of MORGAM. The archiving of MONICA data and the production of the MONICA Monograph are covered by the existing MONICA publication rules.
Individual MPCs are encouraged to present and publish results that are based on the data from their own Centres. If MORGAM Data are used for the presentation or publication, the MORGAM Project should be acknowledged. (Note that the baseline and follow-up data kept in the MPC are not MORGAM Data, even if the MORGAM Data which were transferred to the MDC were derived from them.) Publications which refer to the MORGAM Project in the title must be approved by the MMG before publication.
MORGAM publications can be proposed by any MORGAM Centre (The Proposer). The Publication Proposal, including the items specified in Section 1, should be submitted to the MMG (through Alun Evans) (see Figure 1).
The MMG decides whether the manuscript should be accepted as an Agreed Publication, its priority, and who should be its Leader, and updates the MORGAM Publication Plan as appropriate.
The manuscript is prepared by a Manuscript Group (see Section 1). The Leader is crucial to the success of the work. The Leader may delegate some if not all the writing of the paper to another member of the Manuscript Group but in this case the delegated person's name should appear first in the authorship list.
Authors other than the Leader and/or the first author should be significant contributors to the design of the paper, data preparation, analysis and/or writing. They should be consulted by the Leader and/or first author at key stages in the paper's development and should have seen and approved the final draft before it is submitted to the MMG. In the eyes of journal editors they are responsible and answerable for the accuracy of the data and conclusions contained in the paper. Co-authors are not necessarily those who volunteered, or were volunteered by others when the paper was first proposed - they must have contributed substantially when work on the paper was in progress. The final authorship list may therefore differ from the original Manuscript Group. Names of co-authors should be agreed by the Leader and first author, involving the MMG if there is any difficulty or ambiguity.
The MMG maintains regular contact with the Leaders of the Manuscript Groups to ensure that deadlines are met and on the basis of this keeps the Publication Plan up-to-date. If MORGAM data are used for a publication, the data must be obtained from the MDC.
Such publications appear with the authorship statement as follows:
Name(s) of author(s) for the MORGAM Project (1),
Title:................................
Text:.................................
(1) Annex: Sites and key personnel of the MORGAM Project
The Annex includes:
The list is drafted by the Manuscript Group and corrected when necessary by the MORGAM Centres at the same time as they approve the manuscript.
The letter to the Editor on submission should include this sentence displayed prominently and the accompanying statement on a separate sheet:
"Please Note: Publication of MORGAM Project data is subject to MORGAM Project publication rules. Please see accompanying statement"
Accompanying Statement.
"MORGAM Project Publication Rules
Ownership of MORGAM data is vested in the MORGAM Centres who have resolved that publication of results should be restricted to those journals which accept the MORGAM Project publication rules. These appear reasonable to us and are accepted by major scientific journals. However, we wish to draw these to your attention now to prevent delays or disputes later in the publication process. Within these constraints the Author of the accompanying letter is authorised by the MORGAM Project to negotiate publication with you. We will presume acceptance of these rules if you acknowledge this paper and forward it for refereeing. If you do not accept these rules please return the manuscripts immediately so that it can be submitted elsewhere without further delay. Thank you for your kind help.
The Publication Rules cover two specific items:
- The authorship line (as in the accompanying manuscript)
- Publication of the list of MORGAM sites and key personnel as an annex to the paper.
The format and print size are at the discretion of the Journal."
Whenever reasonable, the paper should have "the MORGAM Project" in the title.
The publication must have an acknowledgement paragraph in a format consistent with MORGAM Project policy and sources of funding. The wording of this should be discussed by the Leader of the Manuscript Group with the MMG. This acknowledgement may need to be updated during the development of the paper and is subject to final revision when the paper is approved by the MMG.
For the Agreed Publications, the individual data analyses to be performed in the MDC are considered for acceptance by the Chief of the MDC. Quality control analyses can be accepted by the Chief of the MDC even if they are not part of an Agreed Publication. Any statistical computing will be performed, documented and reviewed according to the MDC procedures.
Any MORGAM Centre, other than the MDC, wishing to undertake analysis should gain approval from the MMG (see Figure 2). When the MMG gives approval a sub-set of the MORGAM Data can then be transferred from the MDC to the MORGAM Centre. All MORGAM Centres will be informed about the release of data for such decentralised analysis by the MMG.
After the analysis has been completed, the MORGAM Centre will provide the MMG with a documentation of the analysis, including source code of the data analysis programs and output listings of the results which have been used in the manuscript for publication. All resulting publications are subject to MORGAM Publication Rules.
On completion the manuscript is sent to the MMG (see Figure 3). The MMG considers the manuscript for approval as a MORGAM Publication and hence for distribution to the MORGAM Centres for approval. Before making its decision, the MMG may use reviewers to comment on the manuscript. If the manuscript is not acceptable, the MMG decides on how to proceed. The MMG reports back to the Leader within 4 weeks of receiving the manuscript.
The manuscript is distributed to the MORGAM Centres by the MMG, together with the list of key personnel.
The MORGAM Centres (responsible persons) approve the manuscript for publication and/or send their comments to the MMG or the person(s) specified in the covering letter of the manuscript. This must be forthcoming within four weeks, and if no response is obtained the publication will proceed.
Any minor modifications that may be necessary, including the list of key personnel, should be made to the manuscript, before submission. After approval the manuscript will be submitted for publication.
The Leader of the Manuscript Group and the first author should agree between themselves as to who will be responsible for submitting the paper to the agreed journal, for dealing with reviewers'/ editorial comments, for checking the proofs and for ordering reprints. Anything more than minor corrections arising from the editorial-review process should be discussed with other members of the Manuscript Group and with the MMG. Whoever is responsible for the proofs must inform the MMG immediately on receipt of the proofs if there is any problem with the journal complying with MORGAM publication policy on authorship, citations or listing of sites and key personnel, so that they can agree how to take the matter up with the journal Editor. Whoever is responsible for ordering the reprints must send copies to other members of the authorship group and the MORGAM Centres. The number and funding of reprints should be discussed at the time of ordering with the MMG.
Abstracts submitted for oral presentation based on unpublished MORGAM data will be sent to the MMG (see Figure 4). Abstracts will be approved solely by the MMG, the only exception being when mention of specific MORGAM Centres is made in the abstract, in which case, explicit permission will be sought from the MORGAM Centres concerned by the Presenter and evidence of this furnished to the MMG. Failure to reply within 4 weeks by the relevant MORGAM Centres will be taken as implying consent. After the approval, the MMG informs the Presenter. Approved abstracts will be circulated by the Presenter to all MORGAM Centres.
Even if no abstract is required, the Presenter should seek the approval of the MMG. If approved, the MMG will inform the MORGAM Centres. Subsequently, the Presenter should provide the MORGAM Centres with a summary of what was presented.
