Acknowledgement & Authorship
SUGGESTED GUIDELINES FOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & AUTHORSHIP
When determining authorship for core laboratory personnel, you should follow the Recommended Guidelines for Authorship on Manuscripts established by the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF). Although the final decision to assign authorship versus acknowledgment rests with the senior author (or Principal Investigator), it is expected that this decision aligns with established professional standards.
Authorship Criteria
Core personnel who make substantial intellectual contributions—including project design, data interpretation, manuscript preparation, or any work that extends beyond routine technical services—should be included as authors on all resulting publications, posters, reports, and presentations.
Acknowledgment Requirements
All use of core facilities—whether through independent use or assisted services—must be formally acknowledged in any related publication, grant application, poster, scholarly report, or presentation.
Important Clarification
Payment for core services does not replace or negate authorship considerations. If core personnel have made significant intellectual contributions, they must be appropriately recognized as co-authors, irrespective of fee-for-service arrangements.
Important reasons for acknowledging contributions from core facilities in publications, by co-authorship or by formal mention in the acknowledgments section, include:
1. Core facility personnel are scientists. When they make a substantial intellectual and/or experimental contribution to a publication they deserve to be acknowledged just as any other co-author.
2. The existence of core facilities depends in part on proper acknowledgment in publications. This is an important metric of the value of most core facilities. Proper acknowledgment of core facilities enables them to obtain financial and other support so that they may continue to provide their essential services in the best ways possible. It also helps core personnel to advance in their careers, adding to the overall health of the core facility.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF MHPL
Please use the following (or variant of the following) when acknowledging us:
“Comparative histopathology and molecular phenotyping services were provided by the Mouse Histology and Phenotyping Laboratory (MHPL, RRID:SCR_017870) of Northwestern University which is supported by National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center Support Grant P30-CA060553 awarded to the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.”