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Publication guideline

Publication project: Projektskizzen Formular

Introduction

PREAMBLE

The aim of this guideline for the preparation of publications is to promote high-quality publications from the IVDK. It describes the framework for the initiation, implementation and publication of scientific analysis projects based on data from the Information Network of Dermatology Clinics (IVDK) and carried out in cooperation between employees of the IVDK centers, the German Contact Allergy Group (DKG) and the IVDK headquarters.

This guideline is based on the current version of the "Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice" of the German Research Foundation (DFG) (DFG, 2019) and the "Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals" of the Independent Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, 2013; updated Jan 2024).

SCOPE OF APPLICATION OF THE PUBLICATION GUIDELINE

Publications include all publications and communications on projects, methodology, results, interpretations and cooperation within the IVDK as described under 1.1. The publication regulations refer to the following forms of publication: complete manuscripts (original papers, short communications, reviews), conference contributions (abstracts, posters, presentations) and press releases on results.

COORDINATION OF PUBLICATION ACTIVITIES

A publication committee coordinates publication activities and is responsible for compliance with the publication guidelines. The chairmanship of the committee rotates regularly.

The following persons form the publication committee of the IVDK:

  • Management of the IVDK Head Office

  • A research assistant at the IVDK headquarters (proposed by the management of the IVDK headquarters)

  • 2 representatives from the IVDK Board (determined by IVDK Board resolution)

  • A representative of the DKG invited by resolution of the IVDK Board of Directors, as proposed by the DKG

The Publication Board undertakes to act in accordance with the following principles: Transparency, impartiality, collegiality between all participants and the promotion of all forms of publishing activity

The tasks of the publication committee include

  • Examination of publication projects on the basis of the existing database

  • Coordination of planned publications to avoid redundancies and clarification of overlapping publication intentions of individual sub-projects or participants

  • Ensuring compliance with the publication rules. In the event of deviations from the rules defined in this guideline, the publication committee will seek an amicable solution.

  • Quality assurance of publications with regard to formal aspects (e.g. application of guidelines for manuscript design, declaration of conflicts of interest and funding bodies)

  • Compilation and ongoing updating of planned and published scientific projects

PUBLICATION PROCESS

PROPOSAL FOR A SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS PROJECT

As part of the planning of a scientific analysis project, a project outline is submitted to the publication committee by the person responsible for the project. The online form "Outline for the implementation of a scientific analysis project in cooperation with the IVDK" is used for this purpose (see appendix). Required information in the application form includes

  • Title of the

  • Person responsible for the project (initiator)

  • Project participants (co-authors)

  • Project

  • Project description including specification of the research questions and the study design

  • Specification of the required data/variables

  • Statistical evaluation

Every IVDK center that provides data for the IVDK and the IVDK headquarters has the right to carry out scientific analysis projects. Other interested scientists can contact the IVDK Head Office with analysis ideas. If a project outline is submitted to and the topic is not developed into a scientific paper within 12 months of receiving the IVDK data, this privilege expires. Justified deadline extensions are possible in individual cases.

EXAMINATION OF THE PROJECT SKETCHES

The publication committee decides on project proposals after review and internal discussion with regard to compliance with the rules, scientific feasibility and potential conflicts with other projects. For this purpose, the publication committee usually meets once a quarter to discuss the outlines submitted in due form. In order to be considered, project proposals must generally be submitted at least two weeks before the next meeting date.

The Publication Committee will make one of the following decisions:

a) Approve application

b) Approve application with improvements

c) Reject application

The decision of the publication committee can be linked to requirements and conditions. In the event of a rejection, the reasons will be communicated. The result of the review is sent to the project manager in writing by the publication committee. If significant improvements are required, the committee will review the application again.

CARRYING OUT THE DATA ANALYSES AND PUBLISHING THE RESULTS

The data analyses are carried out by an IVDK employee in accordance with the specification of the questions from the project outline. The results are handed over to the project manager in the form of results files generated from the analysis program. Additional questions not included in the original project outline usually require a follow-up application. Follow-up applications are processed by the publication committee by circulation. For monocentric evaluations, the IVDK head office can provide technical support along with explanatory videos for independent evaluation of the local data.

In the case of publications, the acknowledgement should refer to the data source used and the funding. The following text passage should be used for this purpose:

"Data used for this study have been collected and are maintained by the IVDK. The IVDK, an Institute at the University Medical Centre Göttingen, maintained by the IVDK e.V., is partly sponsored by industry as well as by public funds."

Completed manuscripts must be submitted to the publication committee at least two weeks before submission to a journal. The activities of the publication committee are limited to the following tasks:

  • Checking compliance with the publication guidelines

  • Checking that the content of the submitted manuscripts matches the project proposal applied for

  • Checking the acknowledgement

As a rule, the publication committee decides within two weeks of receipt whether the manuscript in question can be approved for submission. The person responsible for the project will be informed of the result in writing. The person responsible for the project undertakes to send the reference and a pdf version of the published article, including any supplements, to the person responsible at the IVDK head office after publication.

Planned conference contributions that are based on already analyzed data are registered with the publication committee at least two weeks before the end of the submission deadline of the corresponding congress. No data analyses for conference contributions will be carried out by the IVDK Head Office within this period. Conference papers will also be submitted to all co-authors for comment and approval at least one week before the submission deadline.

Planned press releases must be submitted to the publications committee for approval two weeks before the planned publication and the final text must be submitted to the relevant press offices one week before the publication date.

The publication committee may, if necessary, allow exceptions, e.g. shorter deadlines for the coordination of abstracts, in order to ensure timely submission

In the case of congress contributions such as lectures and posters, the responsible author will make the contribution available as a pdf document (accepted abstract, poster, set of slides) to the authorized person at the IVDK headquarters after the event.

AUTHORSHIPS

In publications, the persons involved are listed as authors in accordance with the DFG's "Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice" (2019). In principle, only persons who were involved in the planning, design and/or implementation of the project or who made a significant contribution to the analysis and interpretation of the data collected are considered authors in a scientific publication.

For the planning and coordination of publication projects, the IVDK head office creates a topic repository at based on the submitted project outlines. The contact persons at the IVDK centers have access to this repository. Before the start of a publication project, the publication committee proposes employees with special subject-specific expertise from the IVDK centers for potential collaboration. This expertise can be demonstrated by the fact that a disproportionately high number of cases from certain centers have contributed to the respective evaluation or that similar topics have already been processed or applied for. The person responsible for the project can also suggest colleagues from the same center or other centers (including the IVDK headquarters) with corresponding thematic and/or methodological expertise for collaboration. The person responsible for the project is responsible for inviting colleagues to collaborate

The order of authors must be discussed with all project participants before a publication is produced. The authors of scientific publications are always jointly responsible for their content. It must be preliminarily determined who is to be named as author and where, on the basis of which achievement, and who is responsible for the correspondence for the publication process (submission, revision, communication with the publisher).

In principle, there is the possibility of shared first or last authorship, provided that these reflect the corresponding contributions of the persons to the publication. In the event of disagreements regarding authorship, the publication committee should be informed and a decision made by the committee.

The IVDK Study Group consists of all centers that actively contribute data to the IVDK database as well as the regular scientific staff of the IVDK headquarters. The latter is listed as the author of the corresponding journal where possible. One person per center is named. If this is not possible, the entire study group can be named in the acknowledgement. It is possible to name more than one person per center. From the IVDK head office, the persons who were involved in the work are listed as authors

REFERENZEN

German Research Foundation (2022). Guidelines for safeguarding good scientific practice. Code. Version 1.1 (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6472827). Accessed: July 24, 2024.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (2024). Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). Accessed: July 24, 2024

  • VERSION 3.0 / December 12, 2024
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