Changes to authorship after submission/peer-review (but before publication):
First, please make sure that the new authors really fulfill ICMJE authorship criteria (otherwise they can just be added to the acknowledgement section), see Who should be listed as author and sign the publication form? (authorship criteria).
To add authors who fulfill all 4 criteria (including having read and approved the final manuscript and being able to vouch for its; integrity), simply edit the authors in your metadata form (How do I edit/correct/enter article metadata before publication?).
Important: If one or more authors are added after the first round of peer-review that were previously not listed as authors (or if the removal of an author or a change of the order of authors is requested), then we will have to follow the COPE process (see links below). This means that a letter signed by all original (and additional) authors is required, stating the reason for the change, and stating that all authors agree on the addition (or removal, or reordering) and the new authorship order.
Please upload this letter signed by all authors as a supplementary file (for editorial eyes only) (How do I upload/add supplementary files (figures, Multimedia Appendix, additional material for reviewers/editors only) after submission?).
COPE flowcharts:
- Corresponding author requests addition of extra author before publication [PDF, 128KB]
- Corresponding author requests removal of author before publication [PDF, 134KB]
see also
- Adding Authors to New and Incomplete Submissions
- How do I edit/correct/enter article metadata before publication?
- How do I upload/add supplementary files (figures, Multimedia Appendix, additional material for reviewers/editors only) after submission?
- How do I change the order of authors (before publication)?