Research Integrity, Authorship and Collaboration

1. Symposed is a connection platform, not a research-governance body

Finding a collaborator through Symposed does not approve a project. The research team and relevant institution remain responsible for deciding whether an activity is research, audit, quality improvement, service evaluation or another category and for obtaining the approvals, sponsorship, governance and data-access permissions that apply.

For UK health and social care research, users should consult their managing organisation and relevant Health Research Authority and institutional processes where applicable. Symposed does not issue ethical opinions, HRA Approval or research sponsorship.

2. Research integrity

Users must act honestly and responsibly in the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of research. Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, deliberate misrepresentation, manipulation of approvals, undisclosed conflicts where disclosure is required, and other research misconduct are prohibited.

Users should follow applicable institutional policies, journal requirements, professional duties and recognised research-integrity guidance, including the UK Research Integrity Office Code of Practice for Research where relevant.

3. Ethics, governance and project classification

• Do not assume that calling a project an "audit" or "service evaluation" avoids ethical or governance requirements. The relevant managing organisation should determine the project category where required.

• Where research sponsorship, ethics review, HRA Approval, local capacity/capability, audit registration, data-controller approval or other governance is required, obtain it before undertaking activities that require the approval.

• Do not recruit participants, access patient records, extract clinical data or transfer data merely because a project was advertised on Symposed.

• Keep approval documents, protocols, consent materials and research data in the systems required by the responsible institution. Do not upload them to Symposed where they contain patient, participant or confidential information.

4. Authorship and contributorship

Discuss credit early. For biomedical journal articles, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship criteria are a widely used benchmark. In summary, authorship ordinarily requires substantial contribution to the work, participation in drafting or critical intellectual review, approval of the final version, and accountability for the work. Journal and institutional rules may differ and always need to be checked.

Expected authorship positions on Symposed are provisional. No user may sell an authorship place or guarantee authorship irrespective of contribution. A person who does not meet the applicable authorship standard should be acknowledged or credited as a contributor where appropriate rather than being listed as an author merely as a reward.

Teams should document contributions and revisit authorship as the project evolves. CRediT-style contribution categories or another transparent contribution record may be useful even if Symposed does not yet provide built-in work tracking.

5. Supervisors and project leads

A supervisor or project lead should set realistic expectations, explain the project status, identify key deadlines and respond to concerns about data, ethics or integrity. Project leads should not use authorship threats to extract unrelated work or advertise a supervisor who has not agreed to the project relationship.

A platform verification badge is not a substitute for checking the person's role, institutional authority or suitability to supervise the particular work.

6. Artificial intelligence and research tools

AI and automated tools may be used only in a way that complies with applicable journal, institution, funder and professional rules. Users remain responsible for accuracy, confidentiality, references, analysis and disclosures. Do not put patient or confidential project data into an AI service unless the responsible institution has expressly authorised that use. Do not use AI to fabricate data, sources, approvals, contributions or reviewer activity.

7. Conflicts, funding and payments

Disclose conflicts of interest, funding or compensation where the project, journal or institution requires it. Do not use Symposed to sell authorship, sell fabricated research participation or operate a paper mill. If a genuine paid research role or expense arrangement is advertised, describe it accurately and comply with applicable employment, tax and institutional rules. Symposed is not responsible for payment between users.

8. Disputes

Symposed may moderate platform conduct, reviews and misleading listings, but it does not determine legal ownership of an idea, decide final author order, compel a supervisor to continue a project, or substitute for an institution or journal in a research-integrity investigation. Users should first raise project disputes with the project lead or supervisor and then, where appropriate, the relevant institution, sponsor, research-integrity office or journal.

Serious misuse of Symposed, including fabricated projects, sold authorship or repeated dishonest conduct, can still result in platform action under our policies.