How does the Australian Code apply to authorship?

The Code emphasises substantial intellectual contribution, agreement on authorship before submission, and accountability for content. CRediT is one of several acceptable ways to operationalise the substantial-contribution principle.

Does NHMRC require trial registration?

Yes - prospectively, on a WHO-recognised registry. ANZCTR is the default for Australia and New Zealand. The registration number must appear in the resulting publication.

How does CRediT interact with MRFF reporting?

MRFF is administered separately from NHMRC but shares compliance infrastructure. CRediT statements on resulting publications carry through both regimes via the publication layer; neither system parses CRediT as structured grant-reporting metadata.

CRediT statement guide

NHMRC - using CRediT in your application

NHMRC accepts CRediT as one valid means of distinguishing contributions but does not mandate it. The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research is the governing reference for authorship, and CRediT is referenced as accepted practice in NHMRC team-grant guidance.

EncouragedPolicy year 2024AustraliaBack to NHMRC funder mandate

At application stage

What NHMRC asks for in proposals

NHMRC applications are submitted through Sapphire, with a maintained Researcher Profile that is reused across schemes. The Investigator Grant scheme is the council's flagship individual-PI programme; Ideas Grants are project-focused; Synergy Grants and Centres of Research Excellence support team science. The Australian Code authorship guidance, jointly issued with the ARC and Universities Australia, is a grant condition.

Where to embed a CRediT statement

For NHMRC Synergy Grants and Centres of Research Excellence, the team-composition and management-plan sections invite description of how each team member will contribute. CRediT vocabulary inside that description is recognised practice in NHMRC team-grant guidance. The Researcher Profile track-record and significant-contributions sections welcome CRediT-aligned articulation of your role on cited works.

Sample wording

Inside an NHMRC Synergy Grant team-composition section: "CI-A holds Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, and Supervision across the programme. CI-B leads Methodology for the clinical-trial workstream; CI-C leads Methodology for the implementation-science workstream. CI-D holds Formal analysis across both workstreams."

At final-report stage

How CRediT figures in NHMRC progress and final reports

NHMRC annual and final reports submitted through Sapphire collect publications, datasets, and impact narratives. The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), administered separately but aligned, shares much of the same compliance infrastructure.

Does NHMRC ingest CRediT as structured metadata?

NHMRC does not ingest CRediT as structured grant-reporting metadata. The chain runs through publication: journal records CRediT in JATS, accepted manuscript is deposited in an institutional repository or freely accessible at the journal within 12 months of publication, and contribution metadata is recoverable at the article layer.

Common pitfalls

Things to avoid

Treating NHMRC and ARC authorship requirements as different; the Australian Code is jointly issued and applies to both councils.
Failing to register NHMRC-funded clinical trials prospectively on a WHO-recognised registry (ANZCTR is the default for Australia and New Zealand).
Confusing NHMRC compliance with MRFF compliance; while aligned, the schemes are administered separately and have programme-specific reporting expectations.
Using a generic acknowledgement format rather than the scheme-specific NHMRC wording that names the Investigator Grant, Ideas Grant, Synergy Grant, or Centre.

Worked example

Sample CRediT statement for a NHMRC proposal

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

Conceptualization: M. Patel, J. Williams, S. Nguyen. Methodology: M. Patel, S. Nguyen. Investigation: M. Patel, J. Williams, S. Nguyen, R. Anderson. Formal analysis: J. Williams, R. Anderson. Data curation: R. Anderson. Writing - original draft: M. Patel. Writing - review & editing: all authors. Funding acquisition: M. Patel. Supervision: M. Patel. Project administration: J. Williams. This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant APP-XXXXXXX. Trial registration: ANZCTR-XXXXXXXXX (prospectively registered).

Frequently asked

NHMRC + CRediT - common questions

Does NHMRC require CRediT?: No - NHMRC accepts CRediT as one valid means of distinguishing contributions but does not mandate it. The Australian Code authorship guidance is the governing reference.
How does the Australian Code apply to authorship?: The Code emphasises substantial intellectual contribution, agreement on authorship before submission, and accountability for content. CRediT is one of several acceptable ways to operationalise the substantial-contribution principle.
Does NHMRC require trial registration?: Yes - prospectively, on a WHO-recognised registry. ANZCTR is the default for Australia and New Zealand. The registration number must appear in the resulting publication.
How does CRediT interact with MRFF reporting?: MRFF is administered separately from NHMRC but shares compliance infrastructure. CRediT statements on resulting publications carry through both regimes via the publication layer; neither system parses CRediT as structured grant-reporting metadata.

Related guidance