Guidance on Institutional Affiliations in Publications and Research Security

Federal funding agencies have increased their scrutiny of research publications that acknowledge federal funding support and include co-authors that list affiliations with foreign institutions. This scrutiny is made more complicated by the customary lag in time between research completion to final publication and the regular movement of students, postdoctoral fellows, and other researchers who have completed research at the University and have since moved to new institutions after their program or position with the University has ended. These situations can present compliance concerns relating to approval by NIH of a “Foreign Component” disclosure of “international activities” to NSF and prohibitions on collaborations with restricted entities, collaborations with prohibited entities identified by the Department of War, or a violation of NASA’s prohibitions regarding bilaterial activities with China. As a result, it is critical that researchers accurately list their affiliations and funding sources in research publications.

Institutional Affiliation Guidance

University researchers, including students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars, should follow the following guidelines when listing institutional affiliations in publications:

• University researchers (including faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows, or other research contributors) are expected to list the University of Rochester as their primary affiliation in any research publication where the majority of the work was done at the University, even if the researcher has joined a new institution since the work was completed. This approach is consistent with common publisher practices, sponsor expectations for accurate disclosure, and responsible publication standards.
• An author should list a secondary institutional affiliation if the author completed a substantial component of the work while employed by that institution and/or if the institution contributed to the completion of the research.
• When co-authoring a publication with former students, former postdoctoral fellows, or other former collaborators who conducted research at the University and have since joined a new institution prior to publication, University researchers should carefully consider the potential impact if those collaborators do not list the University as their primary affiliation in publications where the majority of the work was completed at the University. Federal funding agencies may interpret the collaborator’s listing of their foreign institution affiliation as an active collaboration with that institution.
• If a former University researcher wishes to identify their current institution in a publication, even though the research work discussed in the publication was completed at the University, the individual should list the University of Rochester as their primary affiliation and can include an additional note in the publication that indicates their “present address” or “contact address” that identifies their new institution. Below is an illustrative example:

Title of Research Publication
Jane Doe¹ and John Doe¹#
¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, 14627 Rochester, New York, USA.
# Present Address: Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

If you have additional questions on this topic, please contact the Research Security Officer.