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Ethics & Governance
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Institutional Affiliation Policy

1. Purpose

1.1 This policy sets out the agreed form for recording institutional affiliation on all research outputs, including publications and data.

1.2 Standardising institutional affiliation provides a number of benefits for both individual authors and the University. These include:

  1. Enhancing the visibility of University research through bibliographic databases such as Web of Science and Scopus, potentially increasing citation rates.
  2. Increasing the esteem and reputation of individual researchers, research groups and the University amongst the research community at both national and international level.
  3. Ensuring individual researchers, research groups and the University receive appropriate academic recognition for the quality and breadth of research.
  4. More accurate measuring and recording of bibliometric measures associated with research outputs.

2. Scope

2.1 This policy applies to all Durham University staff and students whose research outputs derive from their employment by or studies at the University, from research grants awarded to or provided by the University, or otherwise from the use of University resources and facilities. It applies to all research outputs with one or more Durham author (or individual with a credit or acknowledgement as a contributor), even when they are not the principal or corresponding author.

For the avoidance of doubt, this includes all:

  1. academic research staff and research students.
  2. other students who, as a result of work undertaken as a registered student at Durham University, have an authorship or contribution credit on any output published or otherwise disseminated outside the University.
  3. staff on Education Track and Research and Education Track contracts who produce publications as part of their work (e.g. Teaching Fellows, Career Development Fellows).
  4. Honorary, Visiting or Emeritus members of staff where the output arises from the use of University resources and facilities.
  5. Research Technical and Professional staff who have an authorship or contribution credit on any output published or otherwise disseminated outside of the University.

Please note that this policy does not normally apply to visiting PGR students.

2.2 Where an author leaves the University, wherever possible and respecting any disciplinary norms and journal policies, the author will consider this policy to be applicable to any publications subsequently submitted, accepted or published where:

  1. the research was conducted at or substantially supported by the University.
  2. resources, facilities or data from the University were substantively used in the research.

2.3 Where an author holds a joint affiliation with another institution or organisation, both affiliations may be cited, but the University affiliation must be included. The order in which the affiliations appear will normally be determined by the primary employer.

3. University Policy

3.1 The institutional affiliation Durham University must be cited where an output is in scope of this policy.

3.2 Acronyms or abbreviations should not be used for either the University affiliation or the name of the School, Department, Research Institute, Research Centre or Research Group unless accompanied by the full non-abbreviated name.

3.3 Where permitted by the publication’s house style, Durham University should appear as the first element in institutional affiliation and should normally be no later than the second element. Other elements (e.g. Department or Research Group) may be listed if there is sufficient space, but these should never appear at the expense of including Durham University.

3.4 If the publication’s house style does not permit the format outlined in 3.3 above, Durham University should appear as prominently and as close to the start of the affiliation entry as possible.

3.5 Examples of the correct format for institutional affiliations can be found in Appendix 1.

4. Responsibilities

4.1 It is the responsibility of individual authors to ensure that their affiliation to Durham University is correctly recorded. This includes checking the proofs of any publications received.

4.2 Where a paper is co-authored with an academic from another institution, it is the responsibility of the individual Durham author to ensure that the corresponding author is informed of the correct format to be used for Durham researchers.

4.3 Where relevant, it will be the responsibility of the Departmental Director of Research to work with the individual author to take appropriate steps to ensure that all future publications contain the correct attribution.

4.4 Guidance for reporting unauthorised use of a Durham Affiliation

Examples where this may arise include:

  • A former member of the University continuing to use their Durham University outside of the scope of this policy (e.g. for papers reporting their own research not conducted in association with the University).
  • A former student or colleague including Durham colleagues and/or Doctoral Supervisors as authors or contributors to a paper without their prior consent.
  • An individual unrelated to the University misrepresenting an affiliation with the University.

Where an individual becomes aware that a publication has an incorrect affiliation associated with their name on a published output, they should approach the journal/publisher directly to request a change and notify the Research Policy team (research.policy@durham.ac.uk) if further guidance or assistance is required.

Where a member of the University notices a potential misrepresentation of the University’s Affiliation on a published output not otherwise associated with them, they should notify the relevant Head of Department, and the Research Policy team (research.policy@durham.ac.uk) immediately, providing a link to the publication in question and any details which may assist with investigation.

5. Dissemination of Policy

5.1 This policy will be disseminated via the Research & Innovation Services website, Dialogue and Faculty Research Committees.

6. Review

6.1 This policy will be reviewed by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) in conjunction with the appropriate University research committee every 3 years.

7. Related Documents

8. Version Control

Approval date: 27 January 2026

Approved by: Senate

Contact for further information: research.policy@durham.ac.uk

 

Appendix 1: Examples of the correct use of institutional affiliation

1.

Preferred: [Researcher Name], Durham University, Department of Archaeology, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.

Alternative: [Researcher Name] Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.

2.

Preferred: [Researcher Name], Durham University, Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Department of Physics, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE.

Alternative: [Researcher Name] Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology and Department of Physics, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE.

Or, where a publisher format allows, include two separate affiliations:

Alternative: [Researcher Name] Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE.
And
[Researcher Name] Department of Physics, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE

3.

Preferred: [Researcher Name] is a [Position] at Durham University in the Department of Archaeology.

Alternative: [Researcher Name] is a [Position] in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University.