PIC GIN publications rules (in english)

Publication Chart for PIC-GIN Platform
 

This document could help you to define the position of the GIN's PIC platform engineers in publications that require a contribution from them. It is based on international and national (Inserm/CNRS) recommendations regarding the criteria that define the quality of an author. This document is not intended to define a directive framework but to remind the usual rules.

On the other hand, it is often interesting to define if the engineer will be the author of the publication before the writing and if so, the order of the signatures, by trying to obtain a consensus from all the authors.

Reminder of the international rules :

An author must meet the following three conditions :

- Have played a substantial role in the design of the project and the experimental protocol, the acquisition of the results and/or the analysis and interpretation of the results

- Have written the first draft of the article or participated in the critical revision of the intellectual content (significant intellectual contribution after proofreading)

- Approve the final version and take responsibility for the content

It should be noted that these rules also apply to communications at conferences (posters, abstracts ...).

Engineer’s missions on the platform are multiple and have different degrees of expertise and investment. So the recommendations for publications will differ according to the degree of investment. Four situations can be distinguished.

1. Microscope training and assistance, basic assistance

The involvement of the engineers corresponds to their "basic" mission, they are not co-authors.

The platform must be acknowledged in the publications in the ad hoc section.

"This work was supported by the Photonic Imaging Center of Grenoble Institute Neuroscience (Univ Grenoble Alpes – Inserm U1216) which is part of the ISdV core facility and certified by the IBiSA label."
 

2. Personalized training and assistance

Engineers give a personalized user training , or occasionally assist them in data production, or contribute to sample preparation, or propose new acquisition protocols (non-exhaustive list). In this case, the engineer is associated to the acknowledgements of the platform (personalize the acknowledgement by naming the engineer).

"This work was supported by the Photonic Imaging Center of Grenoble Institute Neuroscience (Univ Grenoble Alpes – Inserm U1216) which is part of the ISdV core facility and certified by the IBiSA label. We wish to thank XX for his strong participation to this project."

3. Involvement in obtaining data

The engineer strongly accompanies a user who is not autonomous in obtaining essential data for the publication (data that would not be obtained without the engineer's strong involvement), participates strongly or obtains all or part of a figure in the publication, or is responsible for producing data for the publication.

According to these different cases, it is recommended that the project leader and the different people involved build a fair and transparent appreciation of the contribution of the PIC engineer to the publication resulting from the work and associate him/her with it. It is also recommended to regularly review the evolution of the project's content and contributions in order to clarify "who (really) did what" and "who is (now) going to do what" in order to make the necessary modifications to the engineer's contribution to the project's progress.

In all cases, thank the platform in the appropriate section.

4. Development of methodology, production of a figure in autonomy, ....

The engineer develops a methodology that allows the acquisition of original data, produces data (figure of article in autonomy, etc). He/she must be co-author of the publication. In all cases, thank the platform in the ad hoc section.