There are three basic reasons for the citing of a contributing Shared Resource(s) and/or Research Scientist(s).
- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires that funds spent from NIH-sponsored grants be accounted for and tracked.
- To best ensure that NIH funding of the Dartmouth Cancer Center is maintained and continued, any and all utilized Shared Resources and/or Shared Resource personnel must be acknowledged or included as authors.
- Inclusion of deserving Shared Resources Personnel as authors contributes greatly to their success in obtaining R50 NIH grants for salary support.
Acknowledgements
A Shared Resource that has contributed in any way to a publication, poster, or presentation must be acknowledged. The acknowledgment allows measurement of productivity and provides documentation of the scope of Shared Resources services. All contributions that do not meet the criteria of authorship should be recognized as an acknowledgment and should always be placed in the Acknowledgment section and in the METHODS section when deemed appropriate.
Important note: The extent of the degree to which the criteria described below is met to distinguish an acknowledgment from authorship must be agreed upon by the PI and Research Scientist, preferably as early as possible in the working relationship.
Acknowledgement criteria:
- Basic scientific advice
- Fee-for-service technical help
- Minor material support, e.g., cells, antibodies, DNA
- Basic analysis
- Boiler plate Methods write-up
Co-authorship
Any Shared Resources personnel who have contributed substantially to the experimental design, analysis, and/or writing of a manuscript should be included as an author(s). Shared Resource personnel are scientists, and any substantial intellectual and/or experimental contribution to a publication deserves co-authorship. Charging for services does not preclude authorship. Again, if authorship is anticipated, an agreement is preferably established by the PI and Research Scientist at the beginning of the project to minimize misunderstandings.
Refer to the Association of Biomolecular Research Facilities (ABRF) Recommended Guidelines (PDF) for authorship guidelines on manuscripts.
Co-authorship criteria:
- Significant contribution to the conception and/or experimental design
- Expert data analysis
- Data interpretation
- Co-writing of manuscript
Cut-and-paste acknowledgement
"The authors acknowledge the following Shared Resources facilities __
Shared resources:
- Bioinformatics (BISR)
- Biostatistics Shared Resource (BSR)
- Clinical Pharmacology (CPSR)
- Genomics and Molecular Biology Shared Resources (GMBSR)
- Immune Monitoring and Flow Cytometry Resource (IMFCSR)
- Irradiation, Pre-clinical Imaging and Microscopy Resource (IPIMSR)
- Mouse Modeling (MMSR)
- Office of Clinical Research (OCR)
- Pathology Shared Resource (PSR)
- Trace Element Analysis (TEASR)
Note: Some Shared Resources may have additional sources of support that must be cited. For example, users of the Immune Monitoring and Flow Cytometry Shared Resource would also cite COBRE Grant (P30GM103415-15) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Thus, check the individual Shared Resources website to determine whether additional sources should be cited.
Note: Authors should also make sure that all publications are processed by the NIHMS to obtain a PMCID per NIH guidelines.