Co-authored and endorsed guidance and material
The College offers different levels of collaboration on guidance through its Co-authorship, Partnership, Endorsement and Support (COPES) Group.
The Group is made up of clinicians and College staff who review requests for endorsement on an as-needed basis. We strongly recommend engaging with us during your development and consultation process by involving a College representative and submitting your draft guideline for review and comment.
The COPES Group requires at least four weeks to assess guidance and provide a response. We will therefore be unable to meet deadlines of less than four weeks from the time of request.
To request endorsement or support for your document, please complete and submit the form below.
Definitions of co-authorship, partnership, endorsement and support are detailed below. The College provides endorsement or support of material for a duration of three years or until the review date published in the material, whichever is the longer period. For any queries, please contact copes@rcoa.ac.uk.
Co-authorship, Partnership, Endorsement and Support: what it means for your guidance
The College offers co-authorship or partnership where it has been involved in the production of the material from the start of its development, has had formal representation on the group creating the material, and has had the opportunity to comment on and edit the material during its development and to sign off the details of the material before publication and dissemination.
Co-authored and partnered material can bear the College logo and can include the phrases: “Co-authored with the RCoA”, “Produced in partnership with the RCoA” or phrases with similar implications. Co-authorship and partnership also implies endorsement.
In some cases, the College may decide that endorsement without co-authorship or partnership is more appropriate. Endorsed material can bear the College logo.
In some cases, the College may decide to endorse material in which it has not had direct involvement or representation from the start of its development, but where it has had the opportunity to comment on draft material. In these cases, the College believes that publication of the material supports its strategic objectives and it has no significant concerns about the content.
Decisions to endorse are made on a case-by-case basis, and we strongly advise that you request College involvement at the earliest stage of planning to avoid disappointment. If you would like to request a subject matter expert to represent the College on your development group, please email COPES@rcoa.ac.uk.
Endorsed material can bear the College logo.
The College may choose to offer its support to completed material whose content it has had no opportunity to influence, comment on or had any involvement in its development. In these cases, the College believes that the publication of the material supports its strategic objectives but it may have some reservations about details of the material that are not of sufficient significance to cause it to reject the request for support.
Supported material may not bear the College logo but can refer to the College’s support for its publication.