Fig 1.
The process of preparing a many-author non-empirical paper.
The infographic illustrates the activities of lead writers and co-authors during the three phases of completing a many-author non-empirical paper – content generation, manuscript preparation, and publication. Lead writers are typically highly involved in organizing the content generation process and writing the paper, while co-authors participate in content generation and provide feedback on the manuscript at specific points in the process. The general process shown here may be adapted based on the needs of the project or project team.
Table 1.
Ten simple rules for leading a many-author non-empirical paper.
Table 2.
Types of many-author non-empirical papers.
Fig 2.
A visual example of the accordion effect.
Colored bars represent different sections of the manuscript, and the bar height illustrates section length. Blue sections were originally drafted by the leads, and green sections were added by co-authors. The number and length of sections increases after co-authors comment, and the lead writers must make the paper more concise while incorporating feedback received during revision.
Fig 3.
Approaches to improve scholarly publishing.
The figure highlights differences in belief, approach, and the potential impact of approaches that seek to improve the performance of individuals within the existing publishing process, vs. those that seek to improve the entire scholarly publishing system through evolutionary or revolutionary approaches. Activities that focus on improving the performance of individuals typically seek to improve the quality of reviewer and editor feedback. Reproduced from [21].