In publica commoda

Affiliation Policy of the University

On 8 November 2023, the Presidential Board adopted the "Guidelines for the standardised declaration of affiliation in research publications" (Affiliation Policy) after receiving an opinion from the Senate. With this guideline, the University is responding to the fact that publications continue to play a central role in the evaluation of academic performance, especially in international rankings. In order to strengthen its position in scientific competition, the University is nolens volens dependent on the fact that the research work carried out at the University can be correctly attributed to both the authors and the institution.

As a university, we are well aware that this endeavour runs counter to the EU's initiative to distance itself from conventional evaluation standards such as rankings and the "publish or perish" mentality. The University welcomes this initiative and actively supports it. Nevertheless, it cannot completely reject the "old system" and is dependent on good positions in the rankings - not least with regard to increasing the attractiveness of Göttingen as a location.

The Affiliation Policy applies to all members and affiliates of the University, including the UMG, and is intended to support them in declaring their affiliation with the University in a standardised manner and in accordance with the rules of good research practice. The implementation of the Affiliation Policy is supported by supplementary information.

Please note that this is an unofficial translation of the original German text provided for information purposes only. Exclusively the German text is authentic and binding.

Complete and correct affiliation information is essential to ensure that research results can be clearly attributed both to the scientists who produced them and to the scientific institution. With these guidelines for the standardised disclosure of affiliations, the University of Göttingen (UGOE), including the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG; hereinafter jointly referred to as: the University), aims to increase the national and international visibility, dissemination and reception of research outputs published by scientists and scholars of the University.
Despite the power of databases such as SCOPUS, Dimensions or Web of Science, hundreds of publications are not attributed to our University each year because authors provide little-used or incomplete affiliations. The aim of the Affiliation Guideline is to provide practical guidance for the standardised disclosure of affiliations, based on the "Recommendation Guidelines on the Naming of Affiliations in Publications" (2018) of the German Rectors' Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz), and thus to ensure the complete and correct attribution of all research outputs generated at the University, including UMG. Supplementary explanations and answers to frequently asked questions are intended to provide additional support to authors in implementing the requirements of the affiliation guidelines.
  1. The guidelines apply to all people who perform and publish research within the scope of their work at the University. This group of people includes in particular professors (including joint professors, junior professors, honorary and visiting professors), lecturers, research assistants, doctoral researchers, students as well as temporarily (e.g., as visiting researchers/scholarship holders) academically active people.
  2. All forms of dissemination of research results, including digital formats (e.g., social media, blogs, etc.), as well as research transfer (e.g., patent specifications) are considered to be publi-cations.
Taking into account the recommendation of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK 2018), affiliation with the University is to be assumed in particular if
  1. a relationship of membership or affiliation to the University exists; this is the case in particular if an employment relationship with the University exists, an appointment/appointment (including joint appointment) or the awarding of the title of "professor" as an associate professor (apl. Professor*in) or honorary professor (Honorarprofessor*in) has been made by the University, a person has been admitted to study at the University or has been accepted as a doctoral candidate at the University, or an academically active person belongs to the group of retired or dismissed professors of the University; and
  2. not only insignificant parts of the research work to be published originated at the University.
  1. The following designations may be used for the University:
    1. in German: "Georg-August-Universität Göttingen"
    2. in the case of character restrictions: "Universität Göttingen"
    3. in the case of an abbreviation requirement: "UGOE"
    4. in English: "University of Göttingen“
  2. The following designations may be used for the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG):
    1. in German: "Universitätsmedizin Göttingen"
    2. in the case of an abbreviation requirement: "UMG"
    3. in English: "University Medical Center Göttingen“
  3. Together with the affiliation, the affiliation to an institution, e.g., clinic, institute, seminar, department or division, shall be indicated. The indication of affiliation to further scientific subdivi-sions is possible.
    1. [Author name(s)]
      1Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, [name of institute, department], [address], Germany
    2. [Author name(s)]
      1Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, [name of clinic, institute, department], [address], Germany
  4. In derogation of paragraphs 1 and 2, the following designation shall be used for the European Neuroscience Institute (ENI), a joint institution of UMG and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG): "ENI-G, a Joint Initiative of the University Medical Center Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences".
  5. If a publication medium has defined its own designation for the University without the possibility of deviation, this designation may be used in derogation of paragraphs 1 and 2.
  • Many international publishers and databases can handle foreign-language institution names, so that an English translation of the name of the University or even subordinate organisational units is usually not necessary. In addition, using the institution's national language name makes it easier to find on the internet, as English-language translations are often not used consistently by members of the institution.
  • In the first place, "University of Göttingen" or "University Medical Center Göttingen" should always be mentioned. This also applies to authors from central institutions of the University. Other organisational units can be listed in descending order (e.g., faculty, institute/clinic, department). If there is a character limit on the part of the publisher, subdivisions should be omitted in favour of naming the University or the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG). If the requirements of the publication medium permit, the information should be separated by a comma.
  • As far as possible, authors should indicate the name of the university with an umlaut. Deviations from this are permissible if the submission template of publication media does not allow the spelling defined under § 4 paragraphs 1 and 2. If authors can choose the alternative spelling themselves, they should enter "Gottingen", as this is a widely used spelling (e.g. in SCOPUS, Web of Science).
  • For the UMG, it should be noted that the naming of the institution is obligatory for the crediting of a publication within the framework of the internal research evaluation and the associated performance-oriented allocation of funds.
  • Note on the naming of authors: Proper names that originate from other alphabets or are based on extended Latin alphabets (for example, Romance and Slavic languages, German umlauts) are sometimes processed inadequately in databases, especially those of Anglo-American origin. Authors should therefore follow the instructions below to ensure that their publications are assigned without doubt:
    • Use a consistent spelling of the name/surname in all publications.
    • In order to avoid ambiguity in common names, it is advisable to consistently include any existing middle names from the beginning of the scientific publication career.
    • If different spellings of a name are in circulation – e.g., because they have been used by publishers themselves – these can be deposited with ORCID (see § 9), Web of Science, SCOPUS and GRO.publications, thus making it easier to clearly assign a publication to an author.
    • If it is not possible to use umlauts, they should be converted to ae, oe or ue, and ß to ss.
  • The corresponding authors must state their full official address, including the addition of "Deutschland" or "Germany" in the case of international publications.
  • If the corresponding author leaves the University before the publication process is completed, this affiliation should still be given as the official address in the publication in question. The prerequisite for this is that a not insignificant part of the research work to be published was carried out at the University (see § 3).
  • If an invoice address is to be given (e.g., for the financing of a publication from the university's publication fund), the guidelines of the Finance Department must be taken into account. The University can only accept invoices that clearly state the invoice recipient. This must include the name of the University or the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG):
    1. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, [if applicable, name of faculty, institute, department], [address], Germany
    2. Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, [if applicable, name of clinic, institute, department], [address], Germany
If there are institutional affiliations to several research institutions, the following must be observed in principle:
  1. In the affiliation, all research institutions should be named where not only insignificant research work has been carried out for the publication in question. The institution at which the researcher works full-time should be named first.
  2. Affiliations, in particular to research institutions or associations, for example centres, institutes, collaborative research centres, may be listed as an additional affiliation, but not instead of an affiliation with the University.
  3. Funding of OA publications from the university’s publication fund is only permitted for authors with several affiliations if the University is stated as the first affiliation.
  4. The indication of additional affiliations of research institutions without a demonstrable connection between the research work to be published and the institution in question is not permitted.
  • In the case of a joint appointment, both affiliations – that of the University and that of the non-university institution – must be stated. In this context, § 5 a must be observed.
  • Visiting researchers must indicate the University as an affiliation (if applicable, as an additional affiliation) for all publications, provided that not only insignificant parts of their research were conducted at the University. If an affiliation cannot be justified, e.g., in the case of very short stays as a visiting scholar, but a reference to the University should still be made, this can be done in the "Acknowledgements" of a publication.
  • Multiple affiliations can also be temporary, for example when academics change academic institutions during an ongoing research project. In this case, too, the affiliation at which the research work was primarily carried out must always be stated in the publication. If the research work was carried out in relevant parts at the old and the new institution, both institutions must be listed as affiliations (cf. HRK 2018).
  • In the case of a publication of research work carried out as part of a Bachelor's thesis, Master's thesis, dissertation or habilitation, the institution at which the Bachelor's thesis, Master's thesis, dissertation or habilitation is submitted must also be stated as the affiliation.
The following must be observed when specifying the email address in the context of research communication:
  1. The official email must be given as the contact address.
  2. In the case of several alias email accounts, preference is to be given to the one that makes the affiliation to the University immediately apparent, e.g., maxi.forscht@chemie.uni-goettingen.de instead of maxi.forscht@gwdg.de.
The implementation of this rule can cause difficulties if a research paper prepared at the University is published after the end of the employment relationship/doctorate etc., and the person acting as the corresponding author no longer has an official email address at the University. In this case, instead of using a private email address or the address of the new research institution where no relevant contribution was made to the research work intended for publication, a central email address of the institute/research group should be used as an alternative, if possible. Researchers who leave the University while research and publication processes are still ongoing should also leave their new contact details at their old institution. By setting up and maintaining an ORCID account (see § 9 (2)), authors can also ensure that their research work can be clearly assigned to them across different institutional affiliations.
For the presentation of research results, for example in the context of lectures or on posters, it is strongly recommended to use the corporate design templates of the University or University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and thus capitalize on the label of the University in national and international scientific communication contexts.

The correct use of the abbreviation "UMG", which is registered and protected as an individual trademark at the European Trademark and Patent Office under ID 908446, is hereby expressly permitted within the framework of the affiliation in accordance with these guidelines.
For posts on social media related to topics of research, teaching or transfer at the University, the appropriate UGOE reference must be used (e.g., Facebook: @georgiaaugusta, Facebook (English): @university.of.goettingen, Twitter: @uniGoettingen, Twitter Göttingen Campus: @thegoecampus, Instagram: @unigoettingen) or the UMG (e.g., Facebook: University Medical Center Göttingen-UMG, Twitter: @yourUMG, Instagram: @unimedizin_goettingen, YouTube: @UMGEU).
  1. Third-party funding sources should be indicated in the acknowledgement (or in a "Funding Acknowledgement", which is sometimes explicitly intended for this purpose). The specifications of the third-party funders must be observed.
  2. All authors are recommended to obtain an ORCID (Open Researcher Contributor ID) and to indicate it whenever possible (e.g., in the course of the publication process, in applications for external funding).
  3. If a publication body (e.g., publisher) uses standardised, name-independent designations for institutions in the submission process and requests one of these identifiers, or if an author uses an institution identifier for his/her own purposes, the following designations or identifiers of the University are to be used in the following cases:
    • German tax number: DE286005408
    • Crossref Funder Registry identifier: 0000 0001 2364 4210
    • GRID (Global Research Identifier Database): grid.7450.6 (University) / grid.411984.1 (UMG)
    • ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier): 0000 0001 2364 4210 (University) / 0000 0001 0482 5331 (UMG)
    • Ringgold Organization Identifier: 9375 (University) / 84922 (UMG)
    • ROR (Research Organization Registry): https://ror.org/01y9bpm73 (University) / https://ror.org/021ft0n22 (UMG)
    • Wikidata: Q152838 (University) / Q2496408 (UMG).
  • The ORCID ensures a clear link between a person and their research achievements, but also their affiliation to an organisation. In addition, a well-maintained ORCID profile allows past affiliations to be traced, ensures the uniform use of proper names and enables the automated maintenance of publication lists. This requires that authors regularly update their ORCID profile.
  • After registering with ORCID, authors can decide for themselves whether they want to make their profile details visible only to themselves, to trusted parties or publicly. Only the name and the unique identifier (ORCID iD) are always publicly visible.
  • Further information and instructions on how to use ORCID can be found on the official ORCID website and on the website of the ORCID DE project, which promotes the use of ORCID in Germany.

Advice/assistance

If you have any questions about the Affiliation Policy, please feel free to contact the Ombuds Office for Good Research Practice.