INTERNET-DRAFT J. Reynolds
draft-rfc-editor-author-lists-00.txt R. Braden
Category: Informational RFC Editor
Expires: November 2002 8 May 2002
RFC Editor Guidelines on Author Lists
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo presents a new set of guidelines to govern lists of
authors on RFC documents. It is intended to counteract a recent
tendency towards author list inflation.
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1. INTRODUCTION
Over the past few years, there has been a tendency toward inflation
of the author lists on RFCs, contrary to the traditional culture of
the IETF and to long-standing RFC editorial policies. This memo
summarizes guidelines that have been formulated by the RFC Editor and
the IESG to limit future author list inflation.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 Historical RFC Policy
During the 30 year history of the RFC series, long lists of
authors on a single RFC have been rare. In general, the front
page header of an RFC has listed only the person (or the few
people) who wrote the document. When there were more than a few
contributors to developing the specification, some RFCs listed
important contributors in an Acknowledgment section; the single
person who had been tasked with integrating the results into a
single document was listed as "Editor" (see RFC 1122 for an
example). One of the reasons for limiting the author list is
practical: the long-existing RFC formatting conventions do not
comfortably handle large author lists. We now discuss the
philosophical reasons.
2.2 The IETF Culture
Most standards bodies publish anonymous standards, whereas the
IETF attaches the names of the responsible authors to its
technical specifications. This relates directly to the IETF's
tradition of individual rather than corporate representation
(which in turn arose from the academic research origins of the
Internet technology). The person(s) who actually write an RFC
take responsiblity for it, even if the specifification recorded in
the RFC originated in a working group of several hundred people.
At the opposite extreme, some academic communities (e.g., high-
energy physics) have adopted a very liberal view of authorship,
resulting in papers listing hundreds of authors. The IETF
community does not wish to emulate this approach.
The selection and ordering of authors on any publication is always
a sensitive issue. Those individuals who contributed
substantially to the content of an RFC naturally wish to be
recognized. On the other hand, there are rumors that some
Internet companies are paying bounties for getting their corporate
names on RFCs, and in some cases there is reason to believe that
corporate marketing functions may play a role in author list
inflation.
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Some see a list of 17 authors on one RFC as motivated by a desire
for corporate name-dropping, which would be inappropriate in the
IETF/RFC context. If there is a desire to demonstrate that many
companies are interested in this spec, Contributor and/or
Acknowledgment sections, described below, can accomplish the same
goal without "author overload."
To prevent erosion of the IETF's traditional (and highly
successful) approach to protocol standardization, the guidelines
in the following section have been crafted. They are an
elaboration of rules suggested independently in several different
recent email discussions of this topic. These guidelines are
intended to apply both to working group output and to individual
submissions.
3. GUIDELINES ON RFC AUTHOR LISTS
(1) A small set of author names, with affiliations, may appear on
the front page header. These should be the lead author(s) who
are most responsible for the actual text. When there are many
contributors, the best choice will be to list the person or
(few) persons who acted as document editor(s) (e.g.,"Tom Smith,
Editor").
There is no rigid limit on the size of this set, but there is
likely to be a discussion if the set exceeds five authors, in
which case the right answer is probably one editor.
The RFC Editor will hold all the people listed on the front page
equally responsible for the final form and content of the
published RFC. In particular, the "Author's 48 Hours" final
approval period will require signoff from all listed authors.
(2) An RFC may include a Contributors section, listing those
contributors who deserve significant credit for the document
contents. When a long author list is replaced by a single
Editor in the front page header, the displaced authors can be
properly and fully acknowledged in the Contributors section.
The Contributors section may include brief statements about the
nature of particular contributions ("Sam contributed section 3")
and it may also include affiliations of listed contributors. It
may also include contact addresses for some or all of the
contributors cited; see item (4).
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(3) An RFC may include an Acknowledgements section, in addition to
or instead of a Contributors section. The Acknowledgment
section may be lengthy, and it may explain scope and nature of
contributions. It may also specify affiliations.
(4) The Author Address section at the end of the RFC must include
the authors listed in the front page header. The purpose of
this section is to (1) unambiguously define author/contributor
identity (e.g., the John Smith who works for FooBar Systems) and
to (2) provide contact information for future readers who have
questions or comments.
At the discretion of the author(s), contact addresses may also
be included in the Contributors section for those contributors
whose knowledge makes them useful future contacts for
information about the RFC.
(5) The RFC Editor may grant exceptions to these guidelines upon
specific IESG request or in other exceptional circumstances.
The optional Contributors section is intended to provide a level of
recognition greater than an acknowledgment and nearly equal to
listing on the front page. The choice of either, both, or none of
Contributor and Acknowledgment sections in a particular RFC depends
upon the circumstance. There is no fixed position for a Contributors
section or an Acknowledgments section within the body of the RFC. If
they appear, they must appear later than the Abstract section and
earlier than the Author's Address section.
4. TRANSITION
These guidelines will be published for Last Call. It is intended
that they will become applicable to all RFCs after the Yokahama
meeting. Until then, the RFC Editor and the IESG will ask for
voluntary compliance with these guidelines, even on documents that
have long been in process.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful for the input from IESG members and from a number of
individual members of the IETF community who share our concern for
doing the right thing.
Security Considerations
There are no security issues in this document.
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Authors' Addresses
Joyce K. Reynolds
RFC Editor
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
EMail: rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org
Robert Braden
RFC Editor
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
EMail: rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org
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