Preamble
The contents of this document define the Olabisi Onabanjo University Publication policy. It has two major sections i.e. Section A: which contains the general publication guidelines and regulations and Section B contains the policy for authorship of Scientific and scholarly publications. The document is hereafter called the policy.
Applicability:- The policy shall apply to all research products, intellectual properties of all Faculty members, Staff, Post doctoral Scholars and Associates, Fellows, Trainees and Students, affiliated with the Olabisi Onabanjo University.
Purpose:- For communities to use and benefit from research outcomes, public trust in research activities must be maintained and sustained through the instrumentality of scholarly integrity, responsible conduct and accurate reporting.
Policy 1
Section A
That the University Publications committee visualizes its functions to include the development and publication of the following:
- University Calendar
- Annual report
- Students Information Handbook
- Scholarly Publications
- Inaugural/Orientation/Public/and Open lectures
- Research Publications and Other Manuscripts
- Monographs/Technical reports/Conference proceedings
i. University Calendar
- That the University Calendar shall be revised and published every five years.
- The compilation, editing and publishing of the University calendar shall be the primary responsibilities of the University Publications Committee
- Colleges/Faculties and other Service Units shall submit the type-written materials on A4 size paper to the secretary of the University Publications committee six months prior to the production date.
- Outdated information in the previous edition shall be identified and forwarded by the department to the Secretary, Publications Committee for up-dating.
ii. Annual Report
- An Annual Report shall be submitted to the registry by all the various organs of the University not later than two months after the end of the academic session.
- The Registry shall collate all the submissions and forward same to the secretary of the University Publications Committee for editorial works not later than four months before printing.
- The format for the presentation of the Annual Report shall be provided by the University Publications Committee.
iii. Students Information Handbook
- The University Student’s Handbook should be published every five years
- The materials for the Handbook shall be prepared and collated by the Directorate of Students Affairs.
- The materials shall be forwarded to the University Publications Committee six months before publication.
iv. Scholarly Publications
- Scholarly Publications shall include the following:
- Textbooks e.g. Basic textbooks for schools, Colleges and Universities. The Committee could, if need be, seek permission to reprint books, which are out of print so as to encourage Scholarship.
- Journal articles
- Monographs/Technical reports/conference proceedings
- Convocation Lectures
- Inaugural lectures
- University/Public/Orientation/Open lectures
- College/Faculty Open Lectures
- College/Faculty Seminars/Lectures
- Guidelines for Acceptance/Sponsorship of Manuscripts for Textbooks/Journals/Technical Reports/Conference proceedings
For the Sponsorship of any of the above areas of scholarly Publications:
The following guidelines shall be followed for the paper support of the University.
- All manuscripts shall be submitted to the University Publications Committee through its Secretary.
- For the acceptance of manuscripts for publication, major emphasis shall be placed on quality, clarity, contributions to knowledge and national development. Every manuscript shall be considered on its own merit and must have been vetted by knowledgeable assessors (internal or external) appointed by the Publications Committee. The manuscripts must demonstrate originality.
- A preliminary assessment of manuscripts shall be done by a Sub-Committee of the Publication Committee set up for that purpose.
- Two favourable reports out of three shall be obtained from assessors in all cases before a manuscript is accepted for publication.
- Manuscripts to be considered may be by single authorship or joint authorship or edited work.
- Manuscript shall normally be typed out on A4 sheets, double spaced and submitted in triplicates together with soft copy. They should meet editorial practice within the discipline concerned.
- Manuscripts shall always be accompanied by an abstract presented separately and it should follow standard conventions.
- Where copyright clearance is required, the author shall indicate whether he has got a clearance or wants the publisher to get it on his behalf. That the copy-right rules shall be strictly observed at all times is mandatory.
- Where an infringement on copy right is discovered before publication, the manuscript shall be rejected. If the infringement is discovered subsequent to publication, the author(s) shall be fully responsible to redress the copy right violation.
- All journal articles accepted for publication which need financial assistance shall be submitted by the staff concerned through the Head of Department/Dean/Provost to the Publications Committee for necessary consideration and appropriate recommendation to the Vice-Chancellor.
- Guidelines for the Publication of Convocation Lectures and Speeches
The Information and Public Relations Directorate shall compile Convocation Lectures and speeches and forward them to the Publications Committee through the Secretary for vetting and publishing within three months of the convocation.
- Guidelines for the Publication of Inaugural lectures
All Inaugural Lecturers must submit 4 type-written and soft copies of their lectures to the Registrar who shall forward two(2) copies to the Secretary of the University Publications Committee for further action.
- Guidelines for the Publication of University Public/Open/Orientation Lectures
The University Public/Open/Orientation Lectures shall be published separately. The Secretaries to such Lecture Committee shall forward 2 copies of the lecture to the Secretary, Publications Committee.
- Guidelines for College/Faculty/Library Seminars/Lectures
All of these materials shall be published by the respective units through their Publications sub-committee.
- Assistance for University Based Journals
- Encouragement shall be given for the establishment of College/Faculty/Library based journals for the effective dissemination of research works both within and outside the University.
- All such journals must provide evidence of ability to sustain production for several years.
- They must provide an acceptable Editorial Board and Consulting Editors.
- The University Publications Committee shall on the basis of the request made by College/Faculty/Library consider and make appropriate recommendations to the Vice-Chancellor for approval.
- There shall be two multidisciplinary University Journal that will publish both University initiated and individual research efforts. One in science and science-based disciplines and the other in the Humanities.
Policy 2 – Use Of University Crest/Logo On Publications
- The University Crest/Logo shall be discreetly used.
- All academic and non-academic Units of the University have rights to the University Crest/Logo while individuals in these Units shall inform the Committee as to the purpose and content of the materials requiring the use of the logo and get its approval.
- Any publications emanating from the students with the intent of using the Logo, shall first get approval of the University Publications Committee on the recommendation of the Directorate of Students Affairs.
- Improper and/or unauthorized use of the University Crest/Logo shall attract appropriate sanctions.
Policy 3 – Publishing House
There shall be established for the University a Publishing House to publish scholarly information and materials and others that might not otherwise be considered by commercial Publishing Houses due to their low economic returns. The Publishing House shall be headed by a Managing Director who shall be responsible to the Vice-Chancellor through the University Publications Committee.
The Proposed Publishing House shall have the following four (4) sections:-
- Editorial
- Production
- Marketing
- Administration/Accounts
- Editorial section
The editorial section shall handle all matters relating to the compilation and editing of all materials meant for publication. This section shall have an editorial Board headed by a professional Editor.
- Production/Graphics Section
Production/Graphics section shall be responsible for the production of all University Publications and shall be headed by a Professional Production/Graphics Manager.
Due to high cost of the equipment and materials needed in the production sections, the production job shall be contracted out to a reputable production outfits until such a time when the University will be financially strong enough to have its own printing equipment. The University Library should be provided with the necessary facilities to handle the binding of internally produced materials.
- Marketing Section
Marketing section shall be responsible for the marketing of the university through marketing research and other components of marketing that will help to position the university strategically among comity of universities home and abroad.
- Administration/Account
This section shall be responsible for all the administrative and financial transactions of the Publishing House.
Policy 4 – Establishment Of College/Faculty Publications Committee
For the effective performance of the Publications committee functions, there shall be a publications sub-Committee at each College/Faculty level.
The sub-Committee shall collate, review and edit all publication materials emanating from the College/Faculty/Unit and shall make appropriate recommendations to the Secretary of the University Publications Committee through their respective Provosts/Deans/Head of Units.
Policy 5 – Finances
There shall be provision for a University Publication’s vote in the Budget. Such vote shall be managed by the University Publications Committee. Provisions shall also be made for a take-off grant to handle University Publications. The Committee shall submit a report of its activities including the audited report of its financial transactions annually.
Policy 6 – Royalty
Royalties shall be paid for all commercially produced texts and materials. Beneficiaries shall include – authors, contributors, editors, relevant Faculties and Units, the University and Publications Committee. The sharing formula shall be determined from time to time by a sub-committee of the Publications Committee set up for that purpose.
Policy 7 – Hand-Outs
- Hand-outs are not regarded as scholarly publications by the University, therefore, their sale and distribution within the University Community is prohibited.
- Any violation of this policy shall attract appropriate sanction.
- It shall be the responsibility of the Head of Department/Units, Deans and Provosts to ensure strict compliance with this policy.
- However, study materials meant to assist students should be made available to them free of charge.
SECTION B
Policy 8
Policy For Authorship
- Definition of Authorship
The WUSTL (2009) defines an author to be an individual who has made substantial intellectual contributions to a scientific investigation. All authors should meet the following three criteria, and all those who meet the criteria should be authors:
- Scholarship: Contribute significantly to the conception, design, execution, and/or analysis and interpretation of data.
- Authorship: Participate in drafting, reviewing, and/or revising the manuscript for intellectual content.
- Approval: Approve the manuscript to be published.
An administrative relationship, acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of a research group alone does not constitute authorship.
- Forms of Contribution to Research Outputs
In a recently published similar policy on Authorship of Scholarship publications by University of Ibadan, the following were identified as forms of contribution to research output: Lead author, Co-author, Unacceptable authorship (http;//www.ui.edu.ng) (see also Ibadan University Press 2003)
- Lead Author
As a practical matter, in the case of publications with multiple authors, one author should be designated as the lead author. He/she assumes overall responsibility for the manuscript, and also may serve as the managerial and corresponding author, as well as providing a significant contribution to the research effort. A lead author is not necessarily the principal investigator or project leader. He is responsible for:
- Authorship: Including as co-authors all and only those individuals or corporate bodies who meet the authorship criteria set forth in this policy;
- Approval: Providing the draft of the manuscript to each individual contributing author for review and consent for authorship. The lead author should obtain from all co-authors their agreement to be designated as such and their approval of the manuscript; and
- Integrity: The lead author is responsible for the integrity of the work as a whole, and ensuring that reasonable care and effort have been taken to determine that all the data are complete, accurate and reasonably interpreted.
Co-authors
All co-authors of a publication are responsible for:
Authorship: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors acknowledge that they meet authorship criteria. A co-author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take responsibility for appropriate portions of the consent.
Approval: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors have acknowledged that they have reviewed and approved the manuscript.
Integrity: Each co-author is responsible for the content of all appropriate portions of the manuscript, including the integrity of any applicable research.
It should be stated that an individual retains the right to refuse co-authorship of a manuscript if he/she does not satisfy the criteria for authorship.
- Acknowledgements
Individuals who may have made some contribution to a publication, but who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as staff, editorial assistants, medical writers, or other individuals, can provide a valuable contribution to the writing and editing of publications. Since those contributions do not meet the criteria for authorship, those individuals should be listed in an acknowledgement and/or contributor section of the work (Macintyre 1995).
- Research Project Supervision
For any publication emanating from a Ph.D/MD research work, it is expected that the student should be the lead author. For any publications emanating from Bachelor and Master Degree projects, flexibility in the choice of lead authors is allowed.
- Unacceptable Authorship
Guest, gift and ghost authorship (Flanagin et al. 1998) are all inconsistent with the definition of authorship; they are unacceptable and a violation of the policy on authorship.
- Guest authorship (honorary, courtesy or prestige) is defined as granting authorship out of appreciation or respect for an individual, or in the belief that expert standing for the guest will increase the likelihood of publication, credibility or status of the work.
- Gift authorship is credit offered from a sense of obligation, tribute or dependence, within the context of an anticipated benefit, to an individual who has not contributed to the work.
- Ghost authorship is the failure to identify as an author someone who made substantial contributions to the research or writing of a manuscript that merited authorship, or an unnamed individual who participated in writing the manuscript. Ghost authorship may range from authors for the hire with the understanding that they will not be credited, to major contributions not named as an author.
Reference
Flanagin, A., Carey, L.A., Fontanarosa, P.B., Phillips. S.T., Pace, B.P., et. Al. 1998. Prevalence of articles with honorary authors and ghost authors in peer-reviewed medical journals. Journal of the American Medical Association 280:222-224.
Macintyre, S. 1995. MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit Policy on Authorship of Publications and Presentations.
http://www.msoc-rc.gla.ac.uk/Reports/Pages/PubPres_MAIN.html
WUSTL., 2009. Policy for authorship on scientific and scholarly publications. Washington University in St. Louis.
http://www.edu/policies/authorship.html.
Ibadan University Press. 2013 – Policy on Authorship of Sociology Publications.
http://www.ui.edu.ng.
N.B.: This Policy is still Under Review
