Collaboration & Authorship Standards

ScholarCortex connects emerging researchers with established scholars for mentorship and genuine collaboration. Trust is the foundation of that mission, so we hold every member to the standards below — and we enforce them.

Authorship is earned, never traded

We follow the authorship criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which are recognized across disciplines. To be listed as an author on work arising from a ScholarCortex collaboration, a contributor must meet all four criteria:

1. Substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
2. Drafting or critically revising the manuscript for important intellectual content;
3. Final approval of the version to be published; and
4. Accountability for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

Colleagues who contribute in narrower ways — general advice, funding, language editing, or administrative support — should be credited in the acknowledgments instead. We encourage every team to record who did what using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework and to include that statement at submission.

Zero tolerance

The following result in immediate investigation and, if confirmed, permanent removal from the platform:

• Buying, selling, or trading authorship — offering or requesting authorship in exchange for money, fees, favors, or anything other than genuine scholarly contribution.
• Gift, guest, or ghost authorship — listing people who did not contribute, or omitting people who did.
• Paper-mill activity — producing, brokering, or purchasing fabricated or templated manuscripts.
• Contract cheating — producing coursework, theses, dissertations, or other assessed work for submission in a mentee's name.
• Plagiarism, data fabrication, or falsification in any form.
• Misrepresenting credentials, affiliations, or publication records on a member profile.

Confirmed serious violations are reported to the relevant institutions and journals, consistent with guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

How mentorship relates to authorship

Mentors on ScholarCortex guide, challenge, and open doors. Mentorship by itself does not confer authorship, and no mentor may make authorship a condition of their guidance. When a mentoring relationship grows into genuine collaboration — shared study design, analysis, or writing — co-authorship can follow, judged by the same four criteria that apply to everyone.

We ask every collaboration to agree on expected roles and provisional authorship early, revisit that agreement as the work evolves, and finalize the contributor statement before submission. If a disagreement arises, either party may request mediation from our Research Integrity team.

Paid mentorship

Mentorships on ScholarCortex are fee-based. Fees compensate mentors for their time and expertise: advising sessions, feedback on drafts and proposals, methods and analysis guidance, publication strategy, and career coaching for master's students, doctoral candidates, and early-career researchers.

Fees never purchase outcomes. Payment does not buy:

• Authorship on any manuscript, under any circumstances. Payment is never a scholarly contribution.
• Completed work. Mentors may not write, produce, or substantially complete theses, dissertations, coursework, grant applications, or manuscripts that a mentee will submit as their own. Guiding and reviewing the work is mentorship; doing the work is contract cheating.
• Grades, admissions, funding, or publication decisions — or any promise or implication of them.

Additional rules for paid relationships:

• Mentors may not accept payment from anyone they currently supervise, teach, examine, or assess, or where their institution would treat the arrangement as a conflict of interest.
• Mentors are responsible for following their institution's outside-activity and disclosure policies.
• All payments go through ScholarCortex. Taking arrangements off-platform voids our mediation and protections and is grounds for removal.

If a paid mentorship grows into genuine collaboration, authorship is assessed by the same four ICMJE criteria as any other work — never by who paid whom.

How we vet members

• Identity and affiliation verification through institutional email and ORCID iD linking.
• Credential review of mentor profiles, including stated positions and publication records.
• Ongoing oversight through community reporting and periodic profile audits.

Verified members carry a badge on their profile. Verification confirms identity and affiliation; it is not an endorsement of any specific collaboration.

Reporting a concern

If you believe a member has violated these standards, contact our Research Integrity team at integrity@scholarcortex.com. Reports are handled confidentially, and retaliation against good-faith reporters is itself a violation of this policy. Outcomes range from a written warning to suspension or permanent removal — and, for serious confirmed breaches, notification of employers, funders, or journals in line with COPE guidance.

Our commitments to you

• We will never charge for, broker, or facilitate the sale of authorship.
• We align our investigation procedures with COPE recommendations.
• We review this policy annually and publish material changes.