Author Name Change Policy
An author may choose to change their name for reasons, which include (but are not limited to) gender identity, marriage or divorce, religious conversion, and other personal reasons.
The Geological Society of London (GSL) is committed to supporting author inclusion, respecting the rights of authors to their own identities, and ensuring that authors receive credit for all their work.
The following policy provides guidelines for authors wishing to request updates to published works as a result of a change to their name.
• Authors wishing to make such changes are requested to make contact with the editorial office for any GSL journal or book in which they have published.
• Authors are requested to provide details (including a DOI) of the specific articles and published works to which changes apply.
• GSL will make best efforts to adjust the name throughout the article and in earlier versions. Where applicable, GSL will update author pronouns.
• Relevant changes will be made directly to the article PDF and HTML. Updated articles will be republished online without a correction notice (unless otherwise requested by the author). Citation information such as the DOI for the paper will remain the same. Where possible we will endeavour to remove previous versions of articles and reflect changes in the publication Table of Contents.
• Article metadata will be updated accordingly and shared with abstracting and indexing services. GSL acknowledges that it is not able to enforce replacement of the metadata on third-party platforms.
• GSL will retain an original version of the paper in its internal records. This is to ensure that changes are made accurately, and so that any changes can be reverted in future if requested.
• Author privacy and security are of primary concern. Authors requesting name changes will be asked to update (or create) their profile in Editorial Manager to support the requested change and proof of identification. These details should also correspond to those in the author’s ORCiD account. Authors will not be required to provide proof of a ‘legal’ name change.
• GSL advises that authors consider communicating updated details relating to previously published works with co-authors, as relevant and appropriate, to help avoid use of a non-updated citation in future.
Please note, the following changes are not currently covered by this policy: changes to correct spelling errors present in author versions; out-of-date affiliation details; changes to email addresses that do not result from name changes; citations to papers in which a name change has been made.
GSL commits to making changes to digital works only. This policy does not currently extend to previously printed works.
It is recommended that authors consider updating name details via profiles in Editorial Manager, ORCiD, and other relevant locations, where appropriate.
This policy has been created in accordance the principles informing the Committee on Publication Ethics’ working group. In introducing this policy, GSL wishes to acknowledge the work of other publishers in this area, including the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics Publishing and the American Chemical Society.
GSL acknowledges that the landscape for these issues is evolving and, as a publisher, we continue to collaborate with groups to ensure policy guidelines in this area are updated and appropriate. For comments or suggestions regarding this policy, please contact GSL’s Head of Editorial Development: [email protected].
Publications and Information Committee
8 April 2021