Changing the authors or author order on a submission

If you need to add, remove, or re-order the authors on a manuscript — or change which author is the corresponding author — this is handled through a formal author-change request. Because authorship is part of the academic record, every person listed as an author on the original submission must give their explicit consent before any change is made.

When can authorship be changed?

The author list is locked once your manuscript has been through its first round of review. After that point, an author change can only be requested on a revised submission, using the link described below. You can still edit the other parts of your submission as normal.

How to start an author-change request

1. Sign in to the submission system at https://advances.pub.
2. Open your manuscript and choose to edit your (revised) submission.
3. On the edit screen you will find a button to request an author change. Selecting it opens a secure form on our support site.
4. On the form, set out the proposed author list and order, mark who the corresponding author should be, and add a short justification for the change.
5. Submit the form.

What happens next — approval from all authors

• As soon as you submit, we email every author on the original list and ask each of them to confirm they agree to the change.
• Each author reviews the proposed change — the original list versus the new list, including any change of corresponding author — and either approves or declines from that email.
• The change is applied only once every original author has approved. While anyone has not yet responded, the request stays open and waiting.
• Any author can change their response while the request is still open, and the person who submitted the request can withdraw it at any time.
• If you need to amend the request, simply submit a new one — it replaces the earlier pending request.

After everyone approves

Once all original authors have consented, our editorial team applies the change in the publishing system and notifies the (new) corresponding author. You do not need to make the change in the submission system yourself — please don't edit the author list directly, as the official record is updated by us.

Good to know

• If the change introduces a new corresponding author, that person must also consent — they are agreeing both to being listed and to acting as the contact author.
• The consent requirement always applies to the original authors; ordinary newly-added co-authors are included as part of the approved change.
• Every request and every approval is recorded for the journal's records.

If you have trouble finding the link or completing the request, reply to any email from us or contact support and we will help.