28 July 2023–SSA has developed an author name change policy and procedures for authors publishing in its three journals: the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA), Seismological Research Letters (SRL), and The Seismic Record (TSR).
There are many reasons why journal authors may change names during their publishing careers, including but not limited to marriage or divorce, gender identity, or religious conversion. Authors are not required to disclose the reason or provide documentation for a name change request. The Society will work together with authors to update the publication records for articles published in SSA’s journals.
SSA will only accept requests directly from the author named in the change request and will not consider requests from other individuals on an author’s behalf. If necessary, SSA may request information to reasonably establish the identity of the requester.
Unless otherwise instructed by the author, SSA will update the article record without any public notices. Authors who prefer an official announcement may submit an erratum to accompany their name change request. Co-authors will only be notified if the author chooses to publish an erratum.
In response to the name change, SSA will update and republish the electronic (HTML and PDF) Version of Record. No changes will be made to the printed article(s). Other than citations within SSA’s articles listed in the name change request, SSA is unable to correct citations to papers in which a name change has been made; however, the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for the article(s) will remain the same.
SSA will provide the updated metadata to relevant third parties, such as abstracting and indexing services (e.g., Web of Science, Scopus).
SSA will not normally facilitate changes to correct spelling errors that were present in the author versions, out-of-date affiliation details, or changes to email addresses that do not result from name changes.
To request a name change, authors should notify the editorial office of the relevant journals by completing this online form.
Authors should include:
- The author’s former and current name,
- ORCID, if available,
- A list of references of impacted SSA articles, including Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), and
- Whether any changes to personal pronouns are necessary,
- Whether the author wishes to publish a public Erratum.
In addition, SSA recommends authors making a name change update their relevant profiles such as ORCID and Editorial Manager for BSSA, SRL and TSR. SSA also recommends, when appropriate, the requesting author notify co-authors from previous publications, as this will ensure future citations reflect the name change.
SSA’s policies and procedures on author name changes are guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).