Corresponding Authorship: What the Role Commits You To and Who Should Take It
The corresponding author is the one person the journal deals with from submission to long after publication. It is a job, not a credit, and the right holder is whoever will still answer that email in three years.
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Quick answer: The corresponding author is the one person who handles the paper's dealings with the journal from submission to long after publication. Under the ICMJE Recommendations, that person completes the administrative requirements (authorship details, ethics approval, trial registration, disclosures), answers editorial queries promptly, and stays available after publication for critiques and data requests. Pick whoever can answer for the whole paper and will still read that inbox in three years; seniority is a convention, not a rule.
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Evidence basis: We read the ICMJE page on the role of authors and contributors, the Nature Portfolio authorship policy, the PLOS ONE authorship policy and the instructions ACS publishes for JACS authors, all read on September 23, 2026. The comparison table and the decision guide are our synthesis of those sources. Publishers outside this set write their own rules, so the target journal's instructions have the final word, and nothing here predicts how an editor or an institution will settle a dispute.
What the role requires, journal by journal
Every major policy agrees on the core: one person speaks for all authors, confirms everyone has agreed to the submission, and remains the contact after publication. The differences are in the paperwork.
Source | Who the journal deals with | Extra duties it names | Rule worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
ICMJE Recommendations | One individual with primary responsibility for communication | Authorship details, ethics approval, trial registration, disclosures; can be delegated | ICMJE recommends editors copy all correspondence to every listed author |
Nature Portfolio | The corresponding author, before and after publication | Confirms all authors agreed to the list and the submission; files the competing interests statement for everyone; checks names and affiliations in the proof | No change of corresponding author after acceptance |
PLOS ONE | The corresponding author, who speaks for all authors | Ensures every author saw the final version and agreed to the list and contributions | An individual must be named even when the byline is a consortium |
JACS (ACS) | One designated corresponding author during evaluation | Tells coauthors about status and gets their assent to substantial changes | One or more authors can be starred for reader correspondence after publication |
Source: ICMJE; Nature Portfolio; PLOS ONE; ACS instructions for JACS authors (all read September 2026)
Two duties get underestimated. The first is the data: Nature Portfolio expects the corresponding author, and on multi-group papers a senior member of each group, to take responsibility for data, code and materials. The second is time. The role does not end at acceptance; both Nature Portfolio and PLOS make the corresponding author the contact for anything raised about the published paper.
Who should be corresponding author on your paper?
The honest answer depends on your lab, your field and who will still be around. Use the situation, not the habit.
Your situation | Usual best choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
Single lab, PI designed the study | The PI | Can answer for every figure and holds the data long term |
Student or postdoc first author, graduating soon | The PI, or the student with a durable email and the PI's backing | The role lasts after the student's institutional address expires |
Two labs contributed equally | One named corresponding author for the journal; check whether the journal allows a second starred contact for readers | Most journals want one point of contact during review |
Consortium or group byline | A named individual who can speak for the group | PLOS requires one even when the byline is a group name |
An author is changing institutions mid-review | Whoever will keep reliable access to email and data | Nature Portfolio will not change the corresponding author after acceptance |
Industry and academic co-authors | The author best placed to handle disclosures and data requests | ICMJE puts disclosures in the corresponding author's lane |
In most biomedical labs the PI takes the role and signals seniority with it. In fields that order names alphabetically, the corresponding author star can carry more of the credit signal than position does, which is why author order and this role are worth deciding together.
Can a paper have two corresponding authors?
Sometimes, and it helps to separate two jobs that share one name. During review, journals want a single inbox. The ACS guidelines for JACS are explicit: all editorial correspondence goes to the one person designated as corresponding author, who passes status on to the others. After publication, the same guidelines require at least one author, and allow more than one, to be marked with an asterisk as the contact for readers.
So "two corresponding authors" usually means two starred names on the published paper, with one of them doing the journal's paperwork. If your target journal's instructions say nothing, ask the editorial office before you submit rather than letting production decide.
ORCID, changes and the paperwork that trips people up
ORCID. PLOS requires every corresponding author to supply an ORCID iD at submission and have it authenticated in Editorial Manager by final acceptance; only the author can authenticate it. Nature Portfolio requires an ORCID iD from corresponding authors of published papers. Register early, because a missing iD can hold a paper at acceptance.
Changing the corresponding author. Nature Portfolio allows author-list changes after submission only with every author's approval, and none to the corresponding author after acceptance. PLOS routes any author-list change through the corresponding author, with an Authorship Change Form and written consent from all authors.
Permissions. Nature Portfolio makes the corresponding author responsible, at submission, for written permission to cite unpublished material and for identifying anything previously published. The JACS guidelines likewise want permissions for personal communications attached to the cover letter.
Where corresponding-author details go wrong in a submission
These are the byline problems we look for before a manuscript goes out, and the parts of the Manusights $99 Submission-Ready Dossier that check them.
No ORCID printed for the corresponding author. The Dossier extracts every author from the byline, identifies which one is marked as corresponding, and flags that person if no ORCID iD is printed; for other authors a missing iD is noted as optional. It also matches each claimed affiliation against the Research Organization Registry and lists each matched ROR ID for you to paste into any submission portal that supports them.
An affiliation that no longer matches. When an ORCID iD is present, the Dossier looks up that author's current employment through the public ORCID API and reports a mismatch if the manuscript's affiliation differs. People who moved labs during the project are the usual cause, and it is exactly the detail Nature Portfolio asks the corresponding author to confirm in the proof.
An incomplete title page. The Dossier's submission checklist looks for the corresponding author's email and ORCID on the title page, along with every author's affiliation, and its draft cover letter signs off with the corresponding author's name, degree and institution as the manuscript gives them.
The star that moved. In drafts that pass between labs, the asterisk ends up on a different name in the title page, the byline and the submission form. Journals such as JACS require the title and the author list to match on every piece of the submission. Check all three places yourself.
What the Dossier cannot do is decide who should hold the role. It reads the manuscript you upload; it does not know who did the work or who will keep the data, and it does not settle authorship disputes.
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Think twice before you
- name the PI by default when the PI cannot answer for the methods. Editors and readers send questions to the starred name.
- make a graduating student the contact with an address that expires. The role outlives the degree.
- star two names without checking the journal. A second star can become a production query or be removed.
- swap the corresponding author late in revision. At Nature Portfolio journals the name is fixed once the paper is accepted.
For the wider question of who belongs on the byline at all, see co-authorship; for recording what each person did, see the authorship contribution statement guide.
Frequently asked questions
Under the ICMJE Recommendations, the corresponding author is the one individual who takes primary responsibility for communicating with the journal through submission, peer review and publication. That person usually makes sure authorship details, ethics approval, trial registration and disclosures are complete, answers editorial queries promptly, and stays reachable after publication for critiques and data requests.
Not by definition. The role is about communication and accountability to the journal. In many biomedical labs the principal investigator takes it, but ICMJE, Nature Portfolio and PLOS describe duties, not seniority. The deciding question is who can answer for the whole paper and stay reachable for years.
It depends on the journal and on which role you mean. The ACS author guidelines for JACS send all editorial correspondence during evaluation to one designated corresponding author, but allow one or more authors to be marked with an asterisk for reader correspondence after publication. ICMJE describes the journal-facing role as one individual. Check the target journal before you star two names.
Yes, if they meet the authorship criteria and can carry the duties. The risk is continuity: the role lasts past publication, when a student may have left and lost the institutional email. If a student takes it, use an address that will survive graduation and make sure the supervisor is ready to answer for the data.
Usually before acceptance, with every author's agreement. Nature Portfolio journals do not permit changes of corresponding author after acceptance. PLOS requires the request to come from the corresponding author, with written consent from all authors, and may ask for validation.
At many journals, yes. PLOS requires every corresponding author to provide an ORCID iD at submission and authenticate it by final acceptance. Nature Portfolio requires corresponding authors of published papers to provide one, and encourages co-authors to do the same.
Sources
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