Scientific Contribution, Authorship Continuity, and Alumni Affiliation: A Model Agreement, Evidence Map, and Pilot Consultation for Researcher Mobility

Research outputs often outlive contracts. Existing frameworks (ICMJE, ALLEA 2023 §2.6–2.7, COPE, the Montreal Statement, CRediT) agree that authorship follows contribution, but none specifies what happens once an individual contributor has left: whether their consent is needed for changes, whether they are notified of later outputs, who keeps the contribution record, and who arbitrates when every available arbiter is linked to the sponsor. 1. Authorship: scientific contribution and authorship continuity agreement Description: A model agreement and set of record forms for keeping a fair, evidenced account of who contributed what when researchers change role or leave a project. ICMJE, CRediT and the ALLEA code set out what counts as authorship and how to describe contributions, but not a practical procedure for departure. This agreement adds one: a dated contribution record that each contributor confirms, a decision record for every output with approvals tied to the exact version, a departure review, default review times, and a staged dispute process with interim handling. It keeps authorship, acknowledgement, affiliation, inventorship and ownership as separate decisions, and it shows where it must fit with host rules, using the Reims, Lorraine and Côte d’Azur clauses as examples. It is a model for institutional adaptation, not an executed contract. Keywords: authorship; contribution record; CRediT; ICMJE; research integrity; researcher mobility; early-career researchers 2. Bridge: alumni affiliation evidence map and model terms Description: A practical resource for researchers who want to continue research after leaving an institution, whether between roles, self-employed or independent. It combines a purposive evidence map of twelve published host policies from five countries (France, Germany, Poland, the UK and Sweden) with model terms an association between a researcher and a host. For each route it records eligibility for employed, self-employed and professionally inactive applicants, duration, publication wording, resources and decision authority, coded as explicit yes, explicit no, conditional or not established. The first-party text was read for seven routes on 31 October 2026, two more are partly checked, and three are not verified. The search record is included so it can be repeated. The collection is not a census, and it does not rank institutions or claim that affiliation is necessary for every publication. It is proposed by an independent researcher who is seeking an affiliation herself. No university, funder or MCAA endorsement is claimed. Keywords: researcher mobility; affiliation; alumni; honorary research associate; independent researchers; career breaks; research policy 3.Credit and affiliation after a career move: pilot consultation Description: A short anonymous consultation for researchers who have changed institution or left a post. It asks how research credit was recorded and shared, and how access to an affiliation was obtained or lost, including experiences that worked well. It is a pilot and open for recruitment. The results will inform two companion resources, the Scientific contribution and authorship continuity agreement and the Alumni Affiliation Bridge, and may support a research report. Participation is voluntary, and optional questions can be skipped. No name or email is requested, and results will be reported only as aggregates and de-identified paraphrases. Complete anonymity cannot be guaranteed, because combinations of answers can identify a person in a small community.