Retraction Watch Spotlights Ropes & Gray Alert on Authorship Credit and Funding Acknowledgements

Retraction Watch recently featured a Ropes & Gray alert on Authorship Credit and Funding Acknowledgements as Vulnerabilities in Investigations of Grants Compliance and Foreign Influence.

The alert explains that awareness of authorship and funding acknowledgment requirements, and adhering closely to them, is crucial to protecting the reputation of both researchers and their institutions. Research institutions should ensure that their researchers are aware of authorship criteria for relevant journals and of agency requirements for acknowledging federal funding support, provide clear guidance and institutional expectations regarding authorship and funding disclosures (including by incorporating these issues in responsible conduct of research training ), and encourage all researchers to exercise caution and be entirely accurate in accepting authorship credit and in formulating funding acknowledgments.

Retraction Watch featured the alert in its daily newsletter on March 28, 2024 and then again as part of its “Weekend Reads” article published on March 30, 2024.

The alert was authored by health care counsel Stephen Sencer, litigation & enforcement associate Catherine Conroy, health care counsel Minal Caron, litigation & enforcement partners Samantha Barrett Badlam and Laura Hoey and health care partner Mark Barnes.