MMWR: Contributor Attribution Policy

1. Criteria for MMWR Contributors
   1. External and CDC contributors to MMWR must participate in 1) design of the scientific activity, 2) data collection or data analysis, or 3) drafting of all or major portions of the manuscript. All contributors must assume responsibility for the published version of the manuscript. Contributors should be able to defend their contribution independently. Collectively, contributors should be able to defend the design, execution, and conclusions of the report.
   2. Persons will not be listed as contributors merely by virtue of their position in an organization or by attendance at a meeting.
   3. Persons who reviewed a submission for a clearance process or who suggested revisions or limited changes to a submission will not be listed as contributors.
   4. An acknowledgments section may be used to recognize the work of persons involved in the project but who do not meet the MMWR contributor criteria.
   5. MMWR attribution policy follows other CDC guidelines for authorship.
2. Policies for Specific Publications
   1. MMWR Weekly
      1. External Contributors
         1. Consistent with traditional MMWR practice, external contributors are listed in the following order:
            • International contributors by name, single highest academic degree (masters or above), and their organizational affiliation or by affiliation alone.
            • Private-sector contributors listed by name, single highest academic degree (masters or above), and organizational affiliation or by affiliation alone.
            • Local and state health department staff members listed by name, single highest academic degree (masters or above), and organizational affiliation or by affiliation alone.
            • Federal agency staff members by name, single highest academic degree (masters or above), and affiliation or affiliation only.
         2. Within the above categories, agencies and organizations will be listed in the order of information provided in a report.
         3. If the number of agencies and organizations is large, the listing will be in alphabetical order.
         4. Agencies and organizations will provide the order of their contributors
         5. For reasons of confidentiality, some external contributors might not be listed by name or affiliation.
         6. Contributors must meet the criteria for MMWR contributors.
      2. CDC Contributors
         1. CDC contributors are listed after external contributors by name, highest academic degree, the division, and the center/institute/office (C/I/O). The EIS program or other training program affiliation should be included , if appropriate.
         2. CDC divisions will be arranged in the order of their participation in the preparation and writing of the report, scientific activity, and the MMWR editorial process.
         3. CDC divisions will designate the order of listing their contributors.
         4. An e-mail address of a contributor or other designated person may be included to facilitate responses to inquiries.
         5. A C/I/O may list a program name only, without listing each contributor, when CDC staff served as subject-matter experts only, or a substantial number of CDC staff were involved in the report.
         6. Contributors must meet the criteria for MMWR contributors.
   2. MMWR Recommendations and Reports
      1. CDC divisions will be arranged in the order of their participation in the preparation and writing of the recommendations or report.
      2. CDC divisions will designate the order of listing their contributors.
      3. External contributors will follow CDC contributors.
      4. An E-mail address of a contributor or other designated person may be included to facilitate responses to inquiries.
   3. MMWR Surveillance Summaries
      1. Contributors will be arranged to reflect their involvement in the preparation and writing of the surveillance summary, data collection, and analysis.