October 13 to October 15, 2006

Dear all,

Some medical journals print a photo of the author of the article in their journal. Is it suitable for a peer-reviewed journal to do so? What is your opinion?

Hesam Abbasi

The Journal of Tehran Heart Center
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Oh no! We will need a statement on "authorship and photographsmanship" (!) As a member of Editorial Policy Committee, I have tried to provide a light-hearted draft. Hope you don't take it seriously, Bob will not fire me from the Committee, and ICMJE will not sue me for plagiarism!

Just for a change:

Authorship and photographsmanship (!)

A “photographsman” is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive graphic contributions to a published study…..

·         photographsmanship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to the paper; 2) having a passport-sized photo belonging to the past six months; and 3) approval of the final photo to be published by family and friends.

·         When a large, multi-center group has conducted the work, the group should pose for a group photo with the first six authors standing in the first row followed by et al!

·         All persons designated as authors should submit a photo, and all those who submit a photo should be an author.

·         Each author should provide written statement that the photo is original and that it has not or will not be submitted to any other journal for publication.

·         Only the corresponding author can submit a color photo.

Photos of Contributors Listed in Acknowledgments…