Author name changes for published articles

Why straightforward, full, and discreet updates are important

A change of name can come about for various reasons, such as marriage or divorce, gender transition, or change in religious affiliation. When this happens, we know some researchers want to update the journal articles they’ve authored to reflect their new name, often without drawing attention to the change. Our name change policy means that can happen in a straightforward and discreet way.

There are many reasons that an individual may want to update their name in this way. For example, having a previous name listed on journal articles can cause significant problems for trans researchers. The requirement to list past publications on a résumé or grant application effectively forces disclosure of their trans identity and can lead to trauma, harassment, or discrimination 1.

Developing a name change policy

Changing researchers’ names in the scholarly record does however raise several complex issues. These include the conflicting priorities of transparency for readers and privacy for authors. A ‘correction notice’ is the standard way of notifying readers that a change has been made to an article after publication. However, that’s clearly not appropriate for author name changes. Not only might the terminology itself be insensitive, but it would also draw attention to the update.

We’ve worked carefully through these issues as part of a working group of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The result is our name change policy which sets out the steps we’ll take when a researcher makes a request.

Supporting authors who change their name reflects Taylor & Francis’ commitment to ensuring inclusivity in academic publishing. Our process doesn’t require any justification for the request and can be carried out simply and without drawing attention to the update.

Changing your own name on published articles

If you would like all or part of your own name to be changed on the articles you’ve published, please get in touch or email the journal’s Production Editor. We’ll arrange for the changes you request to be made on our own website, Taylor & Francis Online, as well as sending updates to abstracting and indexing services which take Taylor & Francis data.

We can also change any pronouns used in author bios and declaration statements. All these changes can be made without an accompanying correction notice, although we will publish one if you’d prefer. For more details, please read the full name change policy.

[1] A vision for a more trans-inclusive publishing world