Notifications, manuscript review and authorship
The DIAN Obs publication policy applies to all public and scientific communication of unpublished data that result from any DIAN Obs-related activity. All investigators must abide by established DIAN Obs policies and procedures. The Principal Investigator of DIAN Obs adjudicates all disputes over leadership of analyses, authorship, etc. and decisions will be final.
Notifications
Communications from the DIAN Obs Study may be classified as press releases, interviews, public web site postings, presentations (includes poster and accompanying abstract) or publications that contain unpublished DIAN Obs data. The DIAN Obs Administration Core should be notified of all such communications, before they appear or are presented.
Manuscript Review
Manuscripts should be submitted to the DIAN Obs Administration Core at NEURO-DIANObsManuscripts@ email.wustl.edu at least 4 weeks prior to submission to a journal in order to allow time for review and response to recommendations. The reviewed manuscript will be returned along with the necessary documents required for publication.
Authorship
Publication authorship
The overarching considerations for DIAN Obs publications are collaboration and inclusiveness. When studies use DIAN data and/or tissue processed by the DIAN Obs Coordinating Center Cores, an invitation to collaborate (meriting authorship) on the manuscript should be issued to respective Core Leaders and Steering Committee members. DIAN Steering Committee members may also communicate their desire to collaborate when a study is reviewed. Authorship is determined by current standards of authorship responsibilities (e.g. contribute significantly to the conception, design, execution, and/or analysis and interpretation of data; participate in drafting, reviewing, and/or revising the manuscript for intellectual content). If included, it is permissible to have the masthead read “First Author, Other Authors” and the DIAN Steering Committee” with the individual Steering Committee members listed in an appropriate section of the presentation or manuscript. All publications based on DIAN data must include “for the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN)” as an author. If the DIAN group author cannot be used because of journal policies, then all DIAN Steering Committee members should be listed in the acknowledgments and a link to the web page where lists of personnel can be found should be also be included. A grievance process (beginning with notification of the DIAN Principal Investigator) will hear any authorship issues that arise.
Abstract authorship
The categories and authorship rules for abstracts accompanying presentations are as stated above but may have limitations on the number of authors permitted. If authorship is limited or impractical to include all authors then “The DIAN Obs Study Group” would be listed as an author. A full list of members is not included.
Other personnel as authors
The writing group for a manuscript may include trainees, study coordinators, and other personnel as authors, providing that each author was involved in the analysis and writing of the paper.
Arbitration
When conflicts exist regarding DIAN Obs publications, written summaries of the conflict submitted by those involved will be reviewed by the DIAN Obs Administration Core. The DIAN Obs PI will adjudicate the resolution. Any DIAN Obs investigator who wishes to opt out of any automatic authorship listing may do so in writing to the DIAN Obs Administration Core.
Press releases, interviews, and presentations
Press releases, interviews, and presentations (without published abstracts) usually do not have authors. When presentations are accompanied by published abstracts, the authorship rules for the abstracts are the same as for other types of publications, as described in this document
Designation of DIAN Obs Study Members in Supplements to Publications
Supplemental material can accompany manuscripts when space is limited. Supplemental material for DIAN Obs publications should recognize non-author DIAN Obs members and their contribution to the study. All professional members who have the approval of the Principal Investigators and have served in a substantial capacity with the study are listed. Every clinical site and all collaborating entities are listed as participating centers. The Administration Core will be responsible for maintaining the list of all current DIAN Obs investigators for inclusion in publications and will update this list as needed on the DIAN Obs investigator website. Those scientific, federal, or commercial organizations providing funding are also recognized.
Required language to appear in acknowledgments of all publications using DIAN Obs resources
“Data collection and sharing for this project was supported by The Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN, U19AG032438) funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Alzheimer’s Association (SG-20-690363-DIAN), the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Raul Carrea Institute for Neurological Research (FLENI), Partial support by the Research and Development Grants for Dementia from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), Korea Dementia Research Center (KDRC), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare and Ministry of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea RS-2024-00344521, and Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This manuscript has been reviewed by DIAN Study investigators for scientific content and consistency of data interpretation with previous DIAN Study publications. We acknowledge the altruism of the participants and their families and contributions of the DIAN research and support staff at each of the participating sites for their contributions to this study”.