Publication Policy

ROTSE Collaboration Publications Policy: Version 0.002

Goals:

	Preserve the scientific integrity of ROTSE results
	Provide appropriate recognition of all ROTSE collaboration members
	Facilitate rapid analysis and publication of as much ROTSE science as possible

Core Science:

ROTSE core science includes all analyses related to gamma-ray bursts, all triggered responses, special campaigns, and any other studies of astrophysical transience which utilize a substantial fraction (more than 1% of the sky) of the survey data.

Auxiliary Science: Anything else

Core Science Papers:

Publication of core science papers will include three steps:

When collaboration members begin an analysis which is expected to lead to publication they should notify the collaboration. This is both to prevent duplication of effort and to allow participation by all interested parties.
Once those activities in an analysis believe it has reached a level worthy of publication, they will circulate a report (preferably a draft) among the collaboration for comment. Ultimately approval of all drafts for submission will be made by consensus of the collaboration. If the number of ROTSE publications becomes large (more than 1 a month), this policy will have to be extended to facilitate quick and thorough internal review.
When a paper is submitted for publication, the author list will be alphabetical, and will include all ROTSE collaboration members. Two exceptions are made to this author ordering policy:
a) Conference proceedings which require the presenter to the first author.
b) A single paper which constitutes the primary result of a graduate student PhD thesis.
In both cases, all collaboration members will remain co-authors, and be listed alphabetically after the first author.
Additional authors (for example undergraduates, or members of the BeppoSAX team) may be added to the author list of publications to which they make a substantial contribution if requested by a member institution. This addition is subject to approval by the collaboration council.
To avoid any possible confusion about the ROTSE alphabetical authorship policy, the collaboration council will draft a letter explaining the policy and stressing the substantial contributions of all collaboration members. This letter will be suitable for distribution to management at ROTSE institutions and for inclusion in outside employment applications.

Conference Presentations of Core Science:

	Early conference presentation of new core science results must be reviewed by the collaboration. This will be done by submitting the results to be presented 9preferably in the form of final slides) to the collaboration 1 week before the conference. All collaboration members are invited to comment. Final approval will be made by consensus of the collaboration. Non-response by the collaboration will constitute approval.
	Any collaboration member may request to present ROTSE material at a conference. Decisions will be made by the collaboration council. All collaboration members may present ROTSE material in seminars or colloquia.
	The collaboration council is responsible for making public presentation or ROTSE results as broad as possible. it is also charged with equitable distribution of public appearances. A guided principal is that all junior collaboration members must be afforded the opportunity to publicly present ROTSE results. The council is charged with pursuing talks at major conferences, and with seeking colloquium and seminar invitations for junior members.

Auxiliary Science:

There is a lot of other science to be done with ROTSE sky patrols which is far removed from the core goals of the project. This includes, for example, early observation of a (nonGRB) transient discovered by someone else. We can only benefit by getting these kinds of results published.

Single objects:

As a result, any ROTSE collaboration member may work with any outside collaborators on any project involving ROTSE observations of a single object after announcement to the collaboration. Authorship of papers on these topics is unrestricted, but the authors are required to insert the following acknowledgement:

"This project utilizes data obtained by the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment. ROTSE is a collaboration of Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, and the University of Michigan (www.umich.edu/~rotse)"

More extensive programs:

There are many more extensive programs in which ROTSE data plays only a part. In these analyses collaboration with non-members is essential. Any ROTSE member may propose such a project tot he collaboration council for approval. If approved, authorship of papers will be unrestricted, and the authors are required to include the boilerplate acknowledgement given above.