ERKReg Authorship Policy

Co-authorships on scientific publications emerging from registry data will generally be granted based on the ICMJE criteria (www.icmje.org):  

• 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 term "substantial contributions" concerning "acquisition of data for the work" is specified as follows: The level of participation of clinical units contributing to ERKReg publications correlates with patient enrollment. 

The ERKReg Board strives to ensure the process of awarding co-authorships is as fair as possible, with the intention of including as many co-authors as feasible, up to a maximum of 25 (or according to the journal's regulation)

• The enrolment activity of centres is determined as the total number of patients with rare kidney diseases followed in the unit, as stated in their Membership/Affiliated Partnership application. In ERKNet member centers where cumulative adult and pediatric RD patient numbers were submitted, the attributable number of RD patients per unit is 50% of the total count provided. Non-ERKNet units contributing to the registry must declare their total patient count when requesting registry access.
• The patient enrolment numbers refer to fully documented ("active") or terminated patients, having a follow-up within the last two years. Patients from genetic-diagnostic centers with basic data entry provision are counted as 0.5 patients per included patient.
• These rules pertain to center units. In ERKNet Healthcare Providers (HCPs) with both adult and pediatric units, each is considered a separate contributor. When a patient transitions from pediatric to adult care or is shifted to another center, they are counted for enrollment activity in both units/centers.
• As a rule, one co-authorship is awarded per unit. Centres that contribute a large fraction to the analyzed data will be granted 2 co-authorships. The ERKNet unit lead is responsible for nominating the contributing ERKReg editor to be listed as a co-author. The listed affiliation should reflect the institution where the work was conducted at the time of article submission.
• Active ERKReg investigators, external scientific researcher and industry may submit a research proposal according to the data access policy scheme. Two co-authorships will be accepted from the investigating center which submitted the research request. In addition, any co-worker who has substantial impact on the execution of the study will be considered separately (e.g. statistician, technician, etc.). The principal investigator should be appointed as the first author.
• A maximum of 25 co-authors may be listed based on contributed patient data, in alignment with the journal’s authorship limitations. If the number of eligible contributors exceeds this threshold, centres will be acknowledged collectively under the “ERKReg consortium”.

• The enrolment activity is determined as the absolute count of contributed patients with the rare kidney disease(s) of interest that are followed in the unit.
• The publication lead investigators decide on a case-by-case basis on the threshold of enrolment activity of being considered as co-author.
• For publications that are driven within a working group effort, the working group chairs should be listed as co-authors. 

These criteria will be applied dynamically according to the number of patients entered at the time of manuscript submission. In addition, the authorship policy document including these criteria will be updated annually, with figures adapted according to the overall enrolment status.

For questions, please contact erkreg@erknet.org