Corresponding author: identifies the person who sent the article, who took responsibility for the name of other authors and who signed the Copyright Transfer Form. Why there is a need to be more than one? In my opinion if there is more than one corresponding author it may create a trouble in the process.

Dear Dr. Ilhami Unluoglu, many thanks for your valuable submission. Sir, have you come across any published article with two corresponding authors?

Are some journals accepting corresponding author that is more than one? What would have occasioned a situation of having two corresponding authors for a published article?

Thank you for your anticipated expert responses.

I agree with Ahmed Y. Yassin

Dear Olutosin Ademola Otekunrin, I don't remember, but I may not have noticed. I'll pay attention to this. If I come accross such a situation(more than one corresponding author), I'll share it. But it still doesn't fit my opinion, as I had defined in my first answer.

I agree with Dr. Ilhami! Thank you.

Many thanks for your valuable views on this discussion- Drs. Hassan Izzeddin Sarsak, Ilhami Unluoglu and Shurooq Alshaibani.

Agreed with the members

I don't think i t is necessary to avoid confusion.

It is not necessary for all authors to be corresponding authors and hence one person is designated a the corresponding author with whom the editor communicates. However, the corresponding author need not be the primary author.

Hi Olutosin Ademola Otekunrin

Having more than one corresponding author is definitely possible. It only depends on the journal. In fact I have seen a paper with four corresponding authors. Only that it is just one who will be in charge of the submission and re-submission after revision process.

I think is possible to have more than one corresponding authors in an article or conference paper. I have done that in the past and the paper got published. I have also done that in recent past again, also it got published too... You may have a look at Article Effects of Quenchants on Impact Strength of Single-Vee Butt ...

I have not seen where there are two corresponding authors. If it happens, it will only create confusion.

In fact, why have two? One is enough.

As @deCandia, @Jumoke, for short term objectivity, No need to have more than one corresponding author. Especially in a student - Supervisors relationships. However, for long-term objectivity, YES, there is a need to have more than one corresponding authors. Often, research work has continuity and authors come and go from a lab. Having more than one corresponding authors will guarantee continuity of consultations and may even speed up correspondences in the event one author becomes unavailable.

Yes at @Omolayo. Meets short term objective of having a corresponding author - to sign copyright documents and submit articles to be published. For long-term purposes, authors may be requested to discuss or contribute issues related to the published article. In this case, there is definitely a need to have more than one corresponding authors. NB: Transfer of copyright to the publishing house does not, I think, transfer ownership of the ideas published in the article(s). Right?

Thank you so much dear respected senior colleagues for your enriching contributions on this discussion. I really appreciate you all for your time and interest.

Corresponding author is basically the one who has provided the basics and fundamental scientific idea of a paper. Then he/she will handle the supervision and finally submission of the paper and taking care of the reviews and comments. So, one paper needs one corresponding author! Otherwise, I think some issues might have been violated.

More than one corresponding author is possible. I think it depends on the journal. However, I think the existence of the expected mutual agreement among the authors would make more than one corresponding author unnecessary.

yes

Yes, it is possible but it depends on the policy of the journal.

Yes

Thank you so much for your valuable contributions to this discussion

Chirag D. Rabadia

Mohsin Talib Mohammed

Alaa M Hayallah

Stephen Adetunji

Seyed Hamid Ahmadi

Zaipuna Obedi Yonah

Gioacchino de Candia

Jumoke Soyemi

You're all appreciated

Yes it is possible to have two corresponding authors especially if the publication is the fruit of a collaboration between two laboratories where they have used highly specialized techniques to solve a problem

May thanks Prof. Jean-Pierre Jost for your valuable contribution to this discussion.

Many thanks @Sajda Taha Mahmood for your important contribution to this discussion.

In general, corresponding authorship isn't something unusual. However, there are some delicate moments here. A corresponding author coming from an organization which is in a certain known relationship, cooperation, information sharing, signed contractual research programs, and alike would be considered most likely as a natural team member.

Whereas a corresponding author coming from a totally independent, unrelated, and possibly competing organization having different research culture, overlapping research subject matters, far remotely located, and possibly from a foreign country could be considered as a problematic one. Also, the reputation and expertise domain of a potential corresponding author could either facilitate or complicate the decision making process.

I think one corresponding author would be adequate, as that individual would be held responsible for the publication in all aspects, though consent from all the contributing authors is mandatory.

Yes! It is possible to have more than one corresponding author but it depends on the journal. I really do not see the need for multiple corresponding authors but my attention was brought to some publications by an author. I could site some examples with the "Journal of Environmental Management" and "Journal of Molecular Liquids" for instance. I think the multidisciplinary expectations of authorship is the major driver for this, however, the revisions from reviewers' comments could be addressed by the different expert authors and submitted to a chosen corresponding author for submission. Multiple correspondence could bring in confusion and delay the review and/or editorial process. It is also frequently assumed that the submitting author is the one to correspond with, but it's not always the case. I sincerely do not think it is the right thing to do.

Some journal yes

Many thanks for your valuable contributions

@Len Leonid Mizrah

@Rekha Rani Koduganti

@Maurice Ekpenyong

@Zeyad Mohammad

Yes, it is possible,, but this is depends on your justification for the journal

Thank you dear @Ibrahim khider ibrahim and Maya Lambovska for your contributions.

I think there must be only one corresponding author for a particular published article who can take all kinds of responsibility for the same.

Yes, if journal's rules let you you can assign more than one corresponding author for your manuscript. It may be a good way to make sure you wont miss editorial massages during submission process. But nowadays it is not very common.

Reading through all the comments here, I agree that it's easier for the journal to correspond with same author each time to save time used during processing.

In addition, the term 'corresponding author' has to do with the channel of communication between the journal and the authors, this does not stop anyone from communicating with any of the authors after publication.

Any journal that can choose to communicate with any of the authors each time, probably will be too slow to remain relevant.

Many thanks for your invaluable contributions

@Mahesh Kumar

@Seyed Mohammad Sadegh Pezeshki

@Helen I Ajayi

I agree with Dr. Helen. The corresponding author is the mouthpiece for the other authors though all correspondence are relayed to them as well. It saves time and help in avoiding needless delays in the publication processes.

It may be possible. But I believe one corresponding author is ideal

following

If a journal give you the permission you can have more than one corresponding author. But in my opinion there should be only one corresponding author who is solely responsible for your article.

I think one is okay and other authors should be mailed in case the corresponding author is not responding to mail.

It is also to reflect on why this yearning for more than one corresponding author came up in the first place. In this era of teamwork and joint publication, some universities and research institutes are now awarding more credit for articles published to the corresponding author and first-named author in appraisal for promotion.This sometimes causes serious tussles among collaborating researchers. No wonder why COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) insists that authorship ought to be equated with requisite contributions to the publication in question.