2 2 Authorship And Authorship Responsibilities

Leo Migdal

-Dec 5, 2025, 7:02 PM

2 2 authorship and authorship responsibilities

Trust is fundamental to scientific communication: Trust that the authors have accurately reported their contributions, methods and findings; trust that authors have disclosed all potential conflicts of interest; and trust that editors have exercised... Problems with authorship are not uncommon and can threaten the integrity of scientific research.1 With the aim to decrease such problems, this section focuses on principles to guide authorship-related decisions, policies, practices, and responsibilities. Journal editors best serve readers and promote integrity in scientific publication when they ensure accurate reporting and disclosures by authors. The first step in creating transparency for readers is accurate identification of those who participated in the research and the reporting. Authors are generally defined as persons who have contributed sufficiently to a scientific report to be listed on the byline of the published report. Many journals provide guidelines on authorship in their instructions for authors.

Some professional and research funding organizations and academic institutions also provide such guidance. Principles, customs, and practices regarding authorship differ across cultures and scientific disciplines and sometimes within disciplines. This document aims to summarize common principles to guide authorship across scientific disciplines. Principles common to most guidelines on authorship include the following: Authorship confers credit and has important academic, social, and financial implications. Authorship also implies responsibility and accountability for published work.

The following recommendations are intended to ensure that contributors who have made substantive intellectual contributions to a paper are given credit as authors, but also that contributors credited as authors understand their role in... Editors should be aware of the practice of excluding local researchers from low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) from authorship when data are from LMICs. Inclusion of local authors adds to fairness, context, and implications of the research. Lack of inclusion of local investigators as authors should prompt questioning and may lead to rejection. Because authorship does not communicate what contributions qualified an individual to be an author, some journals now request and publish information about the contributions of each person named as having participated in a submitted... Editors are strongly encouraged to develop and implement a contributorship policy.

Such policies remove much of the ambiguity surrounding contributions, but leave unresolved the question of the quantity and quality of contribution that qualify an individual for authorship. The ICMJE has thus developed criteria for authorship that can be used by all journals, including those that distinguish authors from other contributors. The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria: In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors. Received 2023 Apr 2; Accepted 2023 Apr 13; Collection date 2023 Jun.

Authorship in scientific manuscripts indicates intellectual contribution of individuals to a research project and authors play a key role in the research and dissemination of results of a research project. It is important for authors to follow guidelines on authorship and submission of manuscripts and to agree on the order of authorship before beginning the project. Criteria for authorship, roles and responsibilities of authors, author metrics and misconduct of authors and their consequences are discussed in this editorial. Properly assigning authorship ensures transparency, accountability, and fairness in the scientific community. Keywords: Authorship, Editorial, Contributorship, Role and responsibility of the author The dictionary definition of an author is a writer of a book, article or document.

Writing for general public magazines is different from writing for scientific journals. The former is not peer reviewed while the latter is reviewed by peers. As science is governed by a set of rules, so is the writing for scientific journals. While there is scope for imagination and abstract writing in scientific manuscripts too, these are generally limited to within the confines of the governing rules. These rules help to produce high quality, peer reviewed manuscripts which can be searchable within each subject, speciality, and sections of the document for the purpose of researching, citing and comparing with other studies. For the purpose of publication in scientific journals, ICMJE recommendation 2019 [1] gave the definition of authorship which should satisfy all the following four conditions.

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND Determining who qualifies as an author on a scholarly work—and in what order—can be one of the most complex and consequential aspects of academic publishing. Questions of authorship touch on professional ethics, disciplinary norms, collaboration dynamics, and institutional expectations. As research becomes increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative, the need for clarity around authorship roles, responsibilities, and agreements has never been greater. This guide, developed in collaboration with Dr. Alice Young and Dr.

Casside Street, brings together a wide range of resources to support researchers, students, and faculty in navigating the multifaceted landscape of academic authorship. Topics include definitions of authorship, contributor roles and taxonomies, authorship agreements, common sources of dispute, and how to address misconduct. Whether you are preparing your first manuscript, mentoring students, or managing collaborative research teams, this guide is designed to help you foster transparency, accountability, and fairness in your publishing practices. Determining authorship is an important component of upholding the integrity of the research and scholarly enterprise and serves as an explicit way of assigning responsibility and giving credit for intellectual work. Only by honestly reflecting the contribution of all members of the research team can there be sustained growth in the discipline and proper credit directed to scholars for their efforts. Fair and equitable determination of authorship is also important to the reputation, academic promotion, and funding support of the individuals involved, and to the strength and reputation of the authors’ respective institutions.

Disagreements may arise regarding who should be named as an author or contributor to intellectual work and the order in which individuals should be listed. These Guidelines are meant to serve as a set of standards that are shared by the academic community as a whole in order to help facilitate open communication through the adherence to common principles. These principles apply to all intellectual products, whether published or prepared for internal use or for broad dissemination. These Guidelines apply to all faculty, students postdoctoral researchers, and staff. Ownership of research data and materials resulting from Harvard University (“University”) research activities rests with the University (see Research Data Ownership Policy). Designing an ethical and transparent approach to authorship and publication of research, whether in a peer-reviewed journal or in an open access e-print or pre-print repository (e.g., arXiv, PsyArXiv), is a shared responsibility of...

The University recognizes that there are different standards across disciplines regarding authorship and the order in which authors are listed or acknowledged. Additionally, journals often specify their requirements in their guidance for authors and require attestations regarding individual authors intellectual contributions to the work. As a result, each laboratory, department, and/or school should engage in conversations regarding their own discipline-specific standards of authorship and, if needed, are encouraged to supplement the Guidelines herein with a description of these... Note that these Guidelines are not intended for allegations related to research misconduct, defined as fabrication or falsification of data or plagiarism, which are subject to the Procedures for Responding to Allegations of Misconduct... University of Arizona Authorship Guidelines Authorship confers credit and has singificant implications for researchers.

The University of Arizona is committed to ensuring fair recognition of contributions in research and scholarly publications and to providing guidelines that foster a culture of transparency, collaboration, and collegiality. Below we address what authorship means and why it matters, what authorship resources are available, and how to handle disputes in authorship. Jump to specific sections using the links below: What is Authorship and why does it matter? Authorship is a critical component of research, reflecting the contributions of individuals to a body of work. It signifies not only the creation of ideas but also the collaborative effort required to bring those ideas to fruition, whether through developing theories, conducting experiments, or writing scholarly articles.

Authorship matters because it is the primary means by which researchers receive recognition and credit for their work. This recognition is essential for professional advancement, promotions, funding opportunities, and reputational standing—of both the author and institution—within the academic community. Authors are expected to follow the DOI Code of Scientific and Scholarly Conduct, and fulfill the following roles: - make substantial intellectual contributions to the conception, experimental design, or planning of the work; and/or- are substantively involved in acquiring, analyzing, or interpreting data; and- write or improve the work by contributing pivotal... Large, multi-disciplinary collaborations should have clearly defined authorship agreements that are established before the project begins and follow bureau authorship requirements. Discussion and attribution of individual contributions is essential in large projects.

At a minimum, all authors must be able to identify their contribution, agree to the publication of a manuscript, and, take public responsibility for the full content of the work. There are important contributions that do not merit authorship but may merit acknowledgment and/or citation, such as:- securing funding for the scientific or scholarly work;- providing supervisory or administrative support for the scientific or... It is very important to discuss responsibilities and authorship among participating individuals before a project commences and periodically as work progresses. Most authorship disputes can be avoided or resolved by engaging in open conversation early in the process to ensure all contributors agree. A simple authorship agreement may be drafted to keep members of a group project accountable. The authorship agreement should be updated as necessary to reflect any changes in roles, participation, and to reflect any new or departing members.

2 2 Authorship And Authorship Responsibilities

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