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AAS Open Research is committed to listening to researchers and responding to their needs to create a better publishing experience. Here, we introduce a new guideline that allows researchers to retroactively change their names on articles and assets.

AAS Open Research introduces a new guideline which enables researchers to change their name on publications. This guideline provides researchers with a simple, fair and unobtrusive workflow for changing their name on all articles and assets.

Historically, researchers who have legally changed their name and wish to have their publication history conform to their revised legal name, had no clear, simple or standardised way of changing the name used on previous publications, if they wish to do so.

F1000 Research has made this possible for output published on AAS Open Research. Authors who wish to change the names on their own publications, not just prospectively but also retrospectively, may simply request a name change through the editorial office. They will be required to provide documentation of their former and preferred names to ensure that the researcher is requesting the name change for themselves.

Once the identification has been verified, the article will be updated online, with the DOI remaining the same. To ensure transparency, a Notice of Change will be posted, stating that a name change has occurred, without disclosing the name of the researcher. AAS Open Research’s production team will be responsible for resending files to indexers to reflect the name change in databases such as PubMed, ensuring that researchers can gain credit for their work.

F1000 Research was one of the first open research publishers to create this policy. AAS Open Research is pleased to offer this service on our platform. The workflow for the new policy was assessed and validated by researchers who have themselves been (or are) in the process of changing their names on publications, to ensure that it fits their needs.

Elizabeth Marincola, Senior Advisor at the Africa Academy of Sciences, said: “Whereas ORCiD has sought to ensure a consistent identity for authors, F1000 Research has taken the additional step of offering authors the opportunity to change the name that is associated with their publication history. We are pleased that it has created a workflow that enables authors who wish to unify their publication history under a single name will now have the opportunity to do so.”

Michael Markie, Publishing Director at F1000 Research, said: “F1000 Research is committed to listening to researchers and responding to their needs to create a better publishing experience, and it’s our job to be flexible and supportive in how we can best serve our community. In the digital age, it really isn’t an issue to make clear changes to authorship where necessary, so we were more than happy to collaborate with our partner platforms to make this happen.”