Using traditional authorship criteria (15), the CHARGE RSC encourages the designation of multiple co-equal first and last authors so that the authorship matches the scientific contributions of conducting and coordinating analyses from five complex studies. Special efforts are made to provide opportunities for young investigators. The original CHARGE consortium agreement calls for posting shared results on a public website once a manuscript is published in a journal. Recent change in the NIH GWAS policy may affect this plan (16). The consortium remains committed to the NIH GWAS policy on intellectual property (17).
