ACM Policy on Authorship

Introduction

Authors submit their work to ACM because they value its reputation and its cost-effective publication facilities as a place to report their ideas (usually research) to the computing community. Authors rightfully expect ACM to facilitate this goal through a smooth and timely process of review and production. In return, ACM expects that authors submit works that are ready for publication and that authors be responsive to reasonable requests during the publication process. There are four crucial components in creating a quality publication where the author has both roles, rights and responsibilities in their interactions with ACM: See authorship, author representations, reviewing of the submission, processing of an accepted work, and dissemination.

Authors should engage in the best in ethical practices regarding the content of their works. In particular, ACM expects authors to respect intellectual property rights of others in manuscripts submitted for publication by ACM. Additionally, authors should not republish any portion of their own work in a way that makes it appear as a completely new work. Finally, authors should expect ACM to seek redress for unethical use of their work in accordance with ACM plagiarism policy. All ACM authors are subject to ACMs publications policies, and understand that they will be held accountable for any violations of these policies.

Criteria for Authorship

Anyone listed as Author on an ACM manuscript submission must meet all the following criteria:

• they have made substantial intellectual contributions to some components of the original work described in the manuscript; and

• they have participated in drafting and/or revision of the manuscript and

• They are aware the manuscript has been submitted for publication; and

• They agree to be held accountable for any issues relating to the correctness or integrity of the work with the understanding that depending on the circumstances not all authors are necessarily held "equally" accountable. In the case of publications-related misconduct, it may be the case that penalties may vary for co-authors listed on a single publication. 

ACM requires that all published papers include the names, affiliations where research took place, and current working email address’ of all authors listed on the paper, as well as provide accurate contact information to ACM as required in the ACM rights form. All ACM authors are also required to register and provide ACM with a valid ORCID prior to completion of the ACM rights process. Over time, ACM will be adding other requirements for authors, geared towards improving the overall quality, accuracy, and integrity of the data in the ACM Digital Library, as well as ACM's ability to ensure the integrity of publications and related research artifacts.

ACM does not allow anonymous authors, and any papers published in the ACM Digital Library without author names, affiliations, and email address’ may be retracted by ACM. ACM authors have published under actual pen names using “independent consultant” as the author's listed affiliation, but even under such circumstances ACM must be provided with accurate contact information for such authors using a pen name, so that ACM will be able to reach all authors of published papers.

Other contributors may be acknowledged at the end of the paper, before the bibliography, with explicitly described roles, preferably using the roles found in the CASRAI Contributor Roles Taxonomy at CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy).

Author Representations

Authors submitting papers and articles for peer-review to ACM publications make the following representations:

• That the work submitted is original, that the listed authors are the creators of the work, that each author is aware of the submission and that they are listed as an author, and that the paper is an honest representation of the underlying work.

• That the work submitted is not currently under review at any other publication venue, and that it will not be submitted to another venue unless it has been rejected or withdrawn from this venue.

• That the submitting authors have the rights and intent to publish the work in the venue to which it is submitted, if the work is accepted. For conference papers, this includes the expected ability and intent to have an author of the paper register for and attend the conference to present the paper, if required.

• That any prior publications on which this work is based are documented appropriately in the manuscript and/or in a cover letter available to reviewers. This documentation includes providing an explanation of the incremental contribution of a journal paper that extends prior results published in a conference paper. (In cases of double-anonymous review, this information should be supplied to the editor or program chair only.)

In cases where an author feels a particular representation cannot be made but that submission is appropriate, the author should contact the editor or program chair prior to submission to discuss the situation in order to determine whether the submission will be permitted.

ACM journals, magazines, and conferences shall reference this Policy in Calls for Papers, Instructions for Authors, and other solicitations of submissions. The reference to this Policy should appear alongside other venue-specific policies. ACM journals, magazines, and conferences are also encouraged to incorporate acknowledgement of these representations into the paper submission process.

ACM's Commitment to Authors

Once a submission has been accepted, authors can expect ACM to publish the work in a timely and professional manner. Authors can expect to have approval of changes to the work. In addition, ACM will strive to not cause authors to perform unnecessary work. However, authors do have a responsibility to work with ACM to complete the publication process. Publication is only a part of the broader goal of disseminating ideas and results. Authors can expect ACM to contribute to this wider goal, and in particular to encourage dissemination in multiple forums.

Therefore, authors can expect ACM to

• Follow the stated peer-review process for each publication
• Protect the reputation of authors by seeking appropriate redress for the plagiarism of works they authored that were published under the ACM copyright or publishing license agreement options. ACM commits to defend and protect all ACM publications from publications-related misconduct regardless of which publishing license option the author selects during the rights process
• Keep them informed on the status of their submission
• Use impartial reviewers
• Issue timely reviews and clear and specific feedback
• Maintain the anonymity of authors during single-blind peer review
• Maintain confidentiality in the peer review process
• Seek author approval of the final publication proofs
• Provide reasonable time to review publication proofs
• Not introduce errors in the production process and when such errors do occur to remedy such errors expeditiously
• Add no material without the corresponding authors’ approval
• Be financially responsible for its own internal preparation costs or offer an Open Access author-pays option
• Ensure publications metadata accuracy
• Allow the posting of preprint versions of their work on their personal home page, institutional repository, and any non-commercial and legally mandated repositories, as outlined in ACM Author Rights. Current ACM Publications Policy is that ACM sponsored and ICPS conferences may not impose embargoes on authors posting pre-prints of submissions on arXiv or disqualify such submissions that have already been posted on arXiv at the time of submission or during the peer review process. This policy was most recently reaffirmed by the ACM Publications Board in 2019. This Policy is currently under reconsideration by the ACM Publications Board and it is expected that this policy will either be reaffirmed or updated by December 31, 2022.
• Allow metadata information, e.g., bibliographic, abstract, and keywords, for their individual work to be openly available
• Allow authors the right to reuse their figures in their own subsequent publications for which they have granted ACM copyright or license
• Provide statistics for each Publication on its average turn-around time and its current backlog of articles.

Author's Commitment to ACM

Just as ACM makes a commitment to provide a professional and responsible publication experience for authors, the publication process is a complex collaboration between ACM staff, volunteer editors, program committees, reviewers, and authors that rely heavily on each collaborator to contribute to the process in a timely and efficient manner. Nowhere is this more important than with the role that authors play in the publication process, since this process begins with the author's submission, depends heavily on the author throughout the submission and peer review process, requires the author to be responsible and conscientious in their response to requests during peer review, and ultimately requires the author to prepare their accepted work using templates and guidelines provided by ACM in order to publish their accepted work in the ACM Digital Library. 

As a result, ACM expects authors to

• Follow publication requirements and respond to related questions
• Conference authors must agree to, and adhere to, policy stipulated in writing by the conference as well as all ACM Publications Policies
• Acknowledge ACM's contribution and not publish the same material in other venues except as permitted by ACM Author Rights and Publishing Policy.
• Obtain appropriate permission for the reuse of content copyrighted by others as allowed by ACM Permissions Policy
• When reusing portions of their own previously published work in a new manuscript, explicitly state within the text of the manuscript which portions were published elsewhere, and provide references
• Declare copyright ownership of author created and owned images embedded within the image or caption.
• Authors must grant permission for ACM to use the image in the context of the article in current and future formats. Such images must be declared during the ACM eRights process
• Acknowledge others who contribute to the work as appropriate
• Agrees to include an appropriate citation on all Submitted or Accepted versions of the Work and include a statement similar to the following:
  • "© {Owner/Author | ACM} {Year}. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in {Source Publication}, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/{number}."
• Follow Publication submission requirements, e.g., topic areas, page limits, accurate citations, originality, cleared rights, designated contact, acknowledging contributions to work appropriately
• Register and provide ACM with a valid ORCID prior to completion of the ACM eRights process
• Ensure formatting of submitted and accepted articles as per publication requirements and in a timely manner
• Not violate ACM's Inappropriate Content Policy
• Take no steps to violate ACM's Peer Review Policy, such as proactive attempts to determine the identities of reviewers and contact reviewers to influence the peer review decision making process
• Respond appropriately and in a timely manner to reviews
• Respond positively to requests to act as referee for other papers
• Submit their work to only one publication at a time as outlined by the ACM Prior Publication and Simultaneous Submissions Policy
• Speak with one voice even if there are multiple authors
• Ensure that whenever the authors or their employers provide a link to a personal copy, there is a link to the ACM definitive version with a DOI pointer
• Ensure that all versions copyrighted or licensed by ACM bear the appropriate rights notice.