LAMOST Spectral Survey Publication Policy

2012-01-01

1. Introduction

This document describes the policies and guidelines governing the publication of scientific and technical results from the Guoshuojing Telescope Spectral Survey (hereafter GSJTSS). GSJTSS consists of two parts: the LAMOST ExtraGAlactic Survey (LEGAS) and the LAMOST Experiment for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (LEGUE). The GSJTSS Publication Policy is designed to promote the scientific and technical accuracy of GSJTSS publications and ensure that fair credit is given to the authors and to other individuals who have contributed to building the Guoshoujing Telescope (GSJT), instruments, software, and operation. In addition, GSJTSS participants should be encouraged to carry out excellent science with the database and to publish their results in a timely manner. By agreeing collectively on how publication issues will be handled, we aim to minimize future disagreement among GSJTSS participants. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, this document applies to publications based on data taken with the GSJTSS telescopes which are not yet in the public domain, including both the LEGAS and the LEGUE survey data, as well as data taken with the survey equipment during the pilot survey.

This policy applies to: papers submitted to electronic archives and refereed journals; scientific or technical books or book sections about the GSJTSS and its results; conference abstracts, proceedings, and papers; theses; graphical or tabular materials or discussions of results, in electronic or hard-copy form, that are based on analysis of unreleased GSJTSS data and are generally accessible to non-GSJTSS participants (e.g., via a public WWW site or a publicly distributed preprint). Publications using GSJTSS data that has been public for less than a year, but for which the work was started before the data became public, are still subject to this data policy. Communications which are not directly covered by this document, but the dissemination of which should be consistent with it, include: oral presentations, posters, popular articles and books, circulars, telegrams, electronic announcements, press releases, and press conferences.

Responsibility for oversight of GSJTSS publications rests with the GSJTSS Publications Coordinator, who is a member of the Collaboration Counsel (CoCo). As the Survey progresses, the Publications Coordinator, with advise from the CoCo, may suggest changes to the publications policy for approval by the Scientific Committee. A list of approved projects and participants in those projects, as well as a LAMOST Builder list, are available to the Publications Coordinator, as described in the GSJTSS Data Policy.

2. Types of Papers

We distinguish several types of publication: "scientific papers", "technical papers", "data release papers", “unrefereed conference proceedings”, “abstracts”, and “theses”. Scientific papers are based on analyses of, or presentations of, the GSJTSS data. Technical papers describe the GSJTSS instrumentation, calibration, software, strategy, and targeting algorithms. Technical papers may include some GSJTSS data for illustrative purposes. Data release papers describe the contents of GSJTSS data releases to the public. Unrefereed conference proceedings are short (≤ 6 ASP-style pages) status reports that are unlikely to become the primary reference for any technical information or scientific results. Abstracts are short (≤ 500 words) summaries of an oral or poster presentation. Abstracts that will be available to the public are subject to the data policy.

3. Publication Coordinator

The Publications Coordinator will ensure that publications follow the publication process outlined in this document. To aid in this process, he or she will maintain a common electronic WWW-based archive of all publications of the GSJTSS, hereafter the Publications Archive, with accompanying graphical and tabular material. The Publications Archive shall be accessible only to participants with approved data access. External Collaborators generally do not have access to the Publications Archive. The Publications Archive will contain the following proprietary information and links to public documents:

A list of approved projects and team members
papers available for review by the collaboration
papers approved for public distribution and/or journal submission
the GSJTSS acknowledgement script required on all publications (see Data Policy)
the list of technical papers that must be cited in all publications
the current Builder list
the current version of this Publication Policy.

The papers in this archive that have been approved for distribution may be used by any GSJTSS participant for purposes of public presentation, review articles, etc. The Operations Center will coordinate publication of the technical papers to ensure that technical documentation of the project is disseminated efficiently and promptly. The Scientific Committee will coordinate the publication of the data release papers.

Publications will be submitted by the PI of an approved project to the Publications Coordinator for review, a specified period prior to submission or public release (see below for time periods related to each publication type). During the review period, the paper is available to the Members of the GSJTSS, who may submit comments and requests to the paper authors or the Publications Coordinator. The Publications Coordinator will check that the author list on each paper is appropriate and that the appropriate technical papers are cited. At this time Builders may make a request for co-authorship to the project PI. If the paper changes significantly during the review period, and particularly if the conclusions are changed, then the paper must be re-submitted and the review period starts over again. Anyone who has been placed on a paper's author list may make a request to the project PI, at any time, that her or his name be removed from the paper and it shall be removed.

Unresolved disputes about publication matters will be settled by the Arbitration Council (ArCo).

4. Standard acknowledgement

All GSJTSS papers that fall under the purview of this policy must contain the standard GSJTSS acknowledgement, which is maintained by the Spokesperson and posted on the Publications Archive. If this is not possible due to length constraints, the author may submit a request to the Publications Coordinator to include only part of the acknowledgement.

5. Members and Collaborators

Members and collaborators are defined by the GSJTSS Data Policy, which also describes how this list is updated. All Members and Collaborators must read and agree to the contents of this document before being granted access to the GSJTSS data. All Members and Collaborators must follow the rules of authorship and publication described in this document. Those who violate these rules are subject to losing their data access rights, according to the procedures set out in the GSJTSS Data Policy.

6. LAMOST Builders

In order to ensure that proper credit is given to those who were responsible for the construction and maintenance of the hardware, software, and other infrastructure of the GSJTSS, a list of LAMOST Builders will be generated and updated as described in the GSJTSS Data Policy, and posted on the Publication Archive. Each LAMOST Construction Team Member will have the automatic right to co-authorship on every GSJTSS scientific and data release paper.

7. Key Projects

The science projects deemed central to the GSJTSS are the Key Projects. Key Projects are approved by the Science Committee. The Key Projects may consist of many subprojects that produce individual papers, following the scientific paper publication policy. As the organizer of the research effort, the Key Project PI is responsible for approving the authorship order and publication readiness of the papers that result from this project. However, the PI should make sure that the authorship gives proper credit to the team members who are actually doing the work, with first authorship normally going to the person who did the majority of the work in writing each paper.

8. Scientific papers

At the very least, any scientific paper will include in its author list any individual who has contributed to the scientific analyses presented, along with all Builders who have requested authorship. In addition, any team member of a Key or General project may request that his/her name be added to the list of authors on publications that result from the approved project, with the presumption that permission will be granted if there has been any significant contribution to that research project. With the exception of Builders, those requesting co-authorship should include a brief description of their contributions to the project. Authorship requests should be made to the approved project PI, who is expected to err on the side of inclusion in response to such requests.

For most GSJTSS scientific publications, the order of authorship will follow a "two-group" system. The first group of authors, the "analysis group", will consist of those who were heavily involved in the specific analysis described in the paper and in the writing of the paper. The other group will consist of all other authors on the paper and will be ordered alphabetically after the analysis group authors. Builders who request that their names be added to the paper will be included in the alphabetical list.

Membership in the analysis group and order of authorship within the analysis group should be decided by those involved in writing the paper, just as they would decide on membership and order in the author list if they were writing a non-GSJTSS science paper.

The analysis group is always permitted to join the two author groups and make their author order alphabetical.

In the event of a disagreement about membership in the analysis group or order of authorship, the authors may present their cases to the ArCo, whose decisions will be final.

The procedure for publishing a scientific paper is as follows:

When a draft of the scientific paper has been written, the project PI submits the paper to the Publications Coordinator, who makes it available to the Members via the Publication Archive as a "pending" paper, and electronically notifies the collaboration. This announcement must indicate the journal to which the paper will be submitted. GSJTSS Members then have two weeks to make comments, request co-authorship, etc, to the project PI (with copies sent to the Publications Coordinator). To streamline the process, an automated system to query Builders or respond positively to their authorship requests should be used. Builders are encouraged to add their names only to papers that they have read and agree with the results.
Any member is allowed to contact the project PI to request authorship and contribute to the posted paper. However, it is not required that this request be granted unless the request is from a Builder.
The Publications Coordinator checks that the authorship, references, and acknowledgements fairly represent the contributions made to the publication, in particular checking that the appropriate GSJTSS technical publications are referenced. The Publications Coordinator carries out this duty within the same two-week period.
The authors revise the paper as appropriate according to comments and suggestions from the collaboration. At the end of the two-week period, or at the end of the revision process, whichever is later, the final version of the paper is posted to the Publications Archive. From this point forward, the paper and its results and accompanying material may be submitted for publication. The authors may upload the paper to astro-ph at any time before or after the refereeing process, or do not have to use astro-ph at all. The paper is not considered public until its embargo is lifted by the project PI, as indicated at its posting in the Publications Archive (or until it publicly appears in astro-ph or the publication to which it was submitted, should the PI neglects to lift the embargo before then). Until the embargo is lifted, the paper and its results cannot be quoted in public, referenced in other publications, etc. without the permission of the project PI.
When a project team makes revisions in response to an external referee report, it should post the final accepted or published version on the Publications Archive.

In cases of disputes about credit, authorship, infringement on key project science, or scientific results, the Publications Coordinator will work with the relevant PIs, author(s) and GSJTSS Members to resolve them. In cases where a dispute cannot be resolved, the matter may be appealed to the ArCo, whose decisions will be final.

9. Technical papers

Those who have worked on a particular component or subsystem will author the appropriate technical paper, with author order decided by the authors and approved by the Operations Center. The Operations Center will take responsibility for the timely publication of technical papers. The Operations Center will consult with the Working Groups to ensure the target selection algorithms for the survey are published. The Science Committee will be responsible for determining which technical papers will be required references for each type of paper.

After a technical paper is drafted, it is submitted to the Publications Coordinator, who posts it to the Publications Archive as a "pending" paper, and electronically notifies the collaboration. This notification must indicate the journal to which the paper will be submitted. The Publications Coordinator will review the paper to ensure that the authorship, references, and acknowledgements fairly represent the contributions made to the publication.

The Publication Coordinator and GSJTSS Members will have two weeks to send comments to/request changes from the corresponding author. Builders do not have the right to add their names to technical papers. Members who feel they have contributed to the paper may request authorship, though these requests do not need to be honored.

The corresponding author must post the final draft on the Publications Archive before submitting the paper to the appropriate journal and public electronic archive. The contents of the paper may thereafter be quoted in public presentations.

When a technical paper is revised in response to an external referee report, the corresponding author will post the final version on the Publication Archive.

In the case of disputes about technical publications (authorship or content) which the Publications Coordinator cannot resolve, the matter may be appealed to the ArCo, whose decisions will be final.

10. Data Release publications

The Science Committee will appoint someone to be responsible for the production of the journal paper that describes each GSJTSS data release. That person will be the corresponding author of the data release paper. The other authors in these papers will be alphabetical. Those who have contributed to the writing of the data release paper, or who have contributed in a substantive way to the creation or validation of the data described in the paper, are eligible to be authors. Builders will automatically be added to the author list. Builders must be notified that their names have been added to the author list, and may request that their names be removed. Members who feel they have contributed to the paper may request authorship, though these requests do not need to be honored.

These papers must be submitted to the Publications Coordinator, who posts them to the Publications Archive as a "pending" paper, and electronically notifies the collaboration. This notification must indicate the journal to which the paper will be submitted. The Publications Coordinator will review the paper to ensure that the authorship, references, and acknowledgements fairly represent the contributions made to the publication.

The Publication Coordinator and GSJTSS Members will have two weeks to send comments to/request changes from the corresponding author.

When a data release paper is revised in response to an external referee report, the corresponding author will post the final version on the Publication Archive.

In the case of disputes about data release publications (authorship or content) which the Publications Coordinator cannot resolve, the matter may be appealed to the ArCo, whose decisions will be final.

11. Conference Proceedings

In oral or display presentations, colloquium or conference speakers and presenters may, upon consultation with the team contact, make use of unpublished GSJTSS results, and are expected to give appropriate credit to the GSJTSS Collaboration and to those involved in producing the results shown or described.

Because of the practical constraints of page limits, submissions to conference proceedings are not required to follow the authorship policy above. However, any conference paper that does not follow this authorship policy may only include quantitative results (tables and figures, for example) based on papers that have been published or submitted for publication, and it must reference those papers as the primary source for the results. The rationale for this requirement is that conference papers authored by a single author or a small group should not become the primary reference for results that are properly products of the GSJTSS Collaboration. If you post a conference paper under the rules of this paragraph, for which you do not intend to accept co-authorship requests, you should note this when forwarding the proceedings to the Publications Coordinator.

Conference proceedings which are primarily overviews of the GSJTSS project status or scientific results should include the byline "for the Guoshoujing Telescope Collaboration" after the list of authors. Conference proceedings have a reduced list of technical papers that must be cited.

Conference proceedings must be submitted to the Publications Coordinator, who posts them to the Publications Archive as a "pending" paper, and electronically notifies the collaboration. This notification must indicate the journal to which the paper will be submitted. The Publications Coordinator will review the paper to ensure that the authorship, references, and acknowledgements fairly represent the contributions made to the publication.

The Publication Coordinator and GSJTSS Members will have a one week review period to send comments to/request changes from the corresponding author.

In the case of disputes about conference proceedings (authorship or content) which the Publications Coordinator cannot resolve, the matter may be appealed to the ArCo, whose decisions will be final.

12. Abstracts

Science abstracts should include the analysis group, but are not required to include Builders. Abstracts which are primarily overviews of the GSJTSS project status or scientific results should include the byline "for the Guoshoujing Telescope Collaboration" after the list of authors.

Abstracts must be submitted to the Publications Coordinator, who posts them to the Publications Archive as a "pending" paper, and electronically notifies the collaboration. This notification must indicate where the abstract will appear.

The Publications Coordinator will attempt to resolve any issues that are brought up by Members, but normally will not review the contents of submitted abstracts. Any unresolved disputes will be appealed to the ArCo, whose decisions will be final.

13. Theses

Student theses are usually published with a single author. It is okay for this case to publish a single author paper with GSJTSS data. However, it is required that all of the results also be published in other journals, with those papers following this publication policy. Theses based on GSJTSS data should not be distributed to the public via the WWW or other electronic archives until either the data on which it is based are public or journal articles describing its main results have been published or submitted for publication. These publications should be cited in the thesis. The single author thesis must follow all other appropriate provisions in this policy, whether it is a scientific or technical paper.

14. Page Charges

Guoshoujing Telescope operating funds will not be used to pay page charges for any scientific paper. The GSJT operating funds will pay page charges for approved technical and data release papers, subject to the budget.

Editor：Dongwei Fan