Is MRC CRediT policy different from UKRI?

On CRediT and publishing, no - MRC inherits the UKRI umbrella position (encouraged, not required). MRC retains its own data-sharing policy that pre-dates UKRI and is more detailed than the UKRI Common Principles.

How should I describe team contributions on an MRC Programme Grant?

Use the Programme or Centre management plan to articulate leadership, theme-lead, and workstream responsibilities. CRediT vocabulary inside that plan is recognised practice in MRC team-science guidance.

Does MRC require trial registration?

Yes - all MRC-funded clinical trials must be prospectively registered on a WHO-recognised registry. The trial registration number must appear in the resulting publication regardless of CRediT.

Does the MRC data-sharing requirement affect what goes into the CRediT statement?

Indirectly - where datasets are deposited as part of MRC compliance, the data-curation and software roles on the resulting publication should reflect who held those responsibilities.

CRediT statement guide

MRC - using CRediT in your application

MRC inherits UKRI publishing-best-practice guidance on CRediT - encouraged on funded publications, not contractually required. Team-science programme calls (MRC Programme Grants, Centres) explicitly reference CRediT for multi-PI attribution.

EncouragedPolicy year 2022United KingdomBack to MRC funder mandate

At application stage

What MRC asks for in proposals

MRC applications submitted through The Funding Service (UKRI-wide) include the R4RI narrative CV for fellowships and a council-specific structured CV for project grants. The MRC Case for Support, Justification of Resources, and (for team-science calls) the Programme or Centre management plan are the natural places to articulate contributorship at proposal stage.

Where to embed a CRediT statement

For MRC Programme Grants and Centre awards, the Programme or Centre management plan asks applicants to describe leadership, co-investigation, and theme leads. Using CRediT vocabulary inside that plan ("the Programme Lead will hold Conceptualization and Supervision across the portfolio; Theme Leads will hold Methodology and Investigation for their respective workstreams") gives MRC reviewers a precise account of multi-PI complementarity. For fellowships, R4RI Module 1 is the right place.

Sample wording

Inside an MRC Programme management plan: "Across the four workstreams, the Programme Lead retains Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, and Project administration. Theme Leads hold Methodology and Investigation for their workstream; cross-workstream Formal analysis is jointly held by the Programme Lead and the senior statistician."

At final-report stage

How CRediT figures in MRC progress and final reports

MRC outputs are reported through Researchfish - the UKRI-wide annual return - and through council-specific outcome reporting at award close. Researchfish does not parse CRediT roles. MRC's longstanding data-sharing policy (2006-onwards) imposes additional dataset-level reporting that is independent of CRediT.

Does MRC ingest CRediT as structured metadata?

MRC does not currently ingest CRediT as structured metadata. The chain runs through the publication: journal records CRediT in JATS, article is deposited in Europe PMC under CC BY (per the inherited UKRI 2022 Open Access Policy), and the contribution record is recoverable at the article layer.

Common pitfalls

Things to avoid

Treating MRC publishing policy as distinct from UKRI; on CRediT, OA, and ORCID, MRC fully inherits the UKRI umbrella position - check council-specific guidance only for data-sharing nuance.
Omitting the trial-registration number when the funded study is a clinical trial - MRC requires prospective registration on a WHO-recognised registry, independent of CRediT.
Failing to honour the data-sharing plan submitted with the application; MRC predates UKRI on this and retains its own enforcement.
Using a generic "Medical Research Council" acknowledgement without the specific grant reference, which MRC compliance review flags.

Worked example

Sample CRediT statement for a MRC proposal

Illustrative wording (names invented) - adapt to your team and confirm the MRC-specific funding-acknowledgement format current at time of submission.

Conceptualization: F. Nakamura, R. Patel, S. Black. Methodology: F. Nakamura, R. Patel. Investigation: F. Nakamura, R. Patel, S. Black, A. Hughes. Formal analysis: F. Nakamura, A. Hughes. Data curation: A. Hughes. Writing - original draft: F. Nakamura. Writing - review & editing: all authors. Funding acquisition: F. Nakamura. Supervision: F. Nakamura. Project administration: R. Patel. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council, grant number MR/XXXXXXX/1. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.

Frequently asked

MRC + CRediT - common questions

Is MRC CRediT policy different from UKRI?: On CRediT and publishing, no - MRC inherits the UKRI umbrella position (encouraged, not required). MRC retains its own data-sharing policy that pre-dates UKRI and is more detailed than the UKRI Common Principles.
How should I describe team contributions on an MRC Programme Grant?: Use the Programme or Centre management plan to articulate leadership, theme-lead, and workstream responsibilities. CRediT vocabulary inside that plan is recognised practice in MRC team-science guidance.
Does MRC require trial registration?: Yes - all MRC-funded clinical trials must be prospectively registered on a WHO-recognised registry. The trial registration number must appear in the resulting publication regardless of CRediT.
Does the MRC data-sharing requirement affect what goes into the CRediT statement?: Indirectly - where datasets are deposited as part of MRC compliance, the data-curation and software roles on the resulting publication should reflect who held those responsibilities.

Related guidance