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.

For the RCoA to endorse a publication, it requires that a named representative chosen by the RCoA be involved in the development of the external organisation’s publication from the outset. This is usually via membership of a working party, and the representative must make it known to the external organisation that their role in the development of the publication involves representation of the RCoA.

In rare 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. This is when the College believes that the 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 clinicalquality@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 only in accompanying material or on websites (the inclusion of an RCoA logo or brand will not be allowed in or on the final product, and there can be no reference to the RCoA’s support in or on the document).  


COPES Endorsements Form

Have any changes been made to the guidance in response to consultation comments?
Is it possible for changes to be made to the document at this time?

Confirmation

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The Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) is fully committed to the principles of data protection, as set out in the Data Protection Act 2018 (C.12). The RCoA relies on legitimate interests as the lawful basis for processing of personal data. We process and maintain personal data about you so that we can manage your membership, provide you with appropriate products and services and share information with you about RCoA activities.

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