G. Reporting and disseminating research
G.1 Arrangements and responsibilities for the publication of results relating to MRC-funded research, including outline plans for public engagement activities and payment of open access fees, should be taken into account when planning the study and agreed at the outset. Arrangements should be made at an early stage and involve all investigators and should be revisited where roles and contributions change over the life cycle of the study; this is particularly important for collaborative and multidisciplinary projects.
G.2 Discussions may be needed to address authorship, including lead responsibility, authorisation for the content of papers and the intended place of publication and any pre-existing obligations. Arrangements should outline responsibilities for ensuring accuracy of methods, integrity of results, adequacy of internal peer review, appropriate protection of intellectual property, authorship and arrangements for the timely correction of any errors or retraction. For collaborative and multidisciplinary projects differences in publication practice across disciplines or institutions should be identified and addressed at an early stage.
G.3 Authorship should include all individuals who have made a substantial intellectual contribution and all authors are expected to take public responsibility for their contribution to the work. The MRC endorses the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The MRC endorses the ICMJE guidelines on authorship and contributorship; the practice of ‘honorary authorship’ is not acceptable. All contributions to the research must be clearly acknowledged and appropriate permissions sought for the use of the work of others. No person who fulfils the criteria for authorship should be excluded.
G.4 The contributions of funders should be clearly acknowledged and managed appropriately, particularly when using tools such as UK PubMedCentral (UKPMC) and Researchfish.
G.5 When reporting research findings in publications, presenting at scientific meetings and engaging in debates in the media or in public, any relevant interests must be declared. This is to help others understand the factors that may have influenced the research team and would include any interests that might be considered by others, including the public, to be a conflict. Research findings that are likely to attract strong public or media interest should be drawn to the attention of the MRC and/or other research funders before publication.
G.6 The final results of MRC-funded research must be collated, summarised and subjected to quality assurance and, where appropriate, peer review. A conclusion should be drawn and the outcome confirmed by the research team. The MRC encourages the publication of all research findings, including findings that do not support the initial hypotheses to allow others to benefit from the work and to avoid unnecessary repetition.
G.7 The outcomes of MRC-funded research should normally be published as a coherent entity rather than as part of a series, unless there is a legitimate need to demonstrate first discovery by publishing preliminary data. Quality is paramount and the proliferation of papers to increase the quantity of publications is discouraged. Duplicate or redundant submission or publication is not acceptable as it may distort the evidence base upon which meta-analyses rely.
G.8 Agreed standards for reporting the outcomes of research in specific areas have been developed and should be observed. Standards endorsed and supported by the MRC include the CONSORT Statement (CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) and the ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting in-vivo experiments) (47).
