Authorship

Helping you get published

� A century ago, defining an author was quite straightforward

in academia—most articles were written by single authors

who were solely responsible for the research conducted.

Complexities have arisen in the last several decades with the

increasing scope of research, which has engendered

collaboration between researchers and institutes across

disciplines and specializations and led to an increase in the

number of authors per paper.1,2

Authorship

number of authors per paper.1,2

� The involvement of multiple individuals in different capacities

naturally evokes the question of who should be credited and

held accountable for the research published, especially since

careers, ethics, and scientific integrity are at stake. This

article outlines the major concepts pertaining to authorship.

� The need for definite guidelines on authorship is disparate

across fields. In some branches of the humanities, single

authors are still common, and authorship issues surface rarely.

� In contrast, collaborations are the predominant trend in the

sciences, and so there is a greater need for clarity. Therefore,

authorities in scientific fields usually spell out authorship

criteria.

Who is an author?

� In broad terms, an author should make significant

contributions to the intellectual content of the paper and be

willing to take public responsibility for the entire study,

including the data and results. The author’s role has been

delineated most precisely in the Uniform Requirements for

Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals—established by

the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

(ICMJE)—to which many top journals in the biomedical field

subscribe.

According to ICMJE’s guidelines, an author should have6:

a. Contributed substantially to conception and design,

acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data

b. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important

intellectual content

c. Provided final approval of the version to be published

Who is an author?

Any individual who has contributed to the study in some way but

does not meet the criteria for authorship should be mentioned

under Acknowledgements.

Who is an author?

Who is not an author?

According to ICMJE, completing any of the following tasks

does not qualify you as an author:

X Acquisition of fundsX Acquisition of funds

X Supervision of work

X Minor laboratory support

X Administrative support

� With several people contributing to different aspects of a research project,

the distinction between an author and someone acknowledged elsewhere is

often blurred. The unethical publication practices mentioned above only add

to these problems. To solve this conundrum, journals are gradually drifting

from the authorship model to the contributorship model.3

� Many journals now encourage or require authors to describe each person’s

Contributorship / guarantorship

� Many journals now encourage or require authors to describe each person’s

contribution to the study. This description is usually printed in a footnote

that will appear in the published article.

� Some journals, like the Journal of the American Medical Association, require

these details in the authorship form. The Nature journals require authors to

include a statement of responsibility specifying the contribution of each

author.

� Another concept that has evolved in response to the diluted accountability in

multi-author papers is guarantorship. An author (generally a senior member)

is asked to serve as a guarantor of the paper, who will be held responsible for

the entire work. For example, the British Medical Journal requires at least

one author to be listed as a guarantor.

Contributorship / guarantorship

� What is probably as important to a researcher’s career as the number of

papers published is where his or her name appears in the author byline. The

order of listing authors deserves a special mention, considering that it is

sometimes a bone of contention and can cause bitterness.

� In the sciences, and in related fields like psychology, authors are generally

listed in the order of the relative importance of their contributions, with the

Order of listing authors

listed in the order of the relative importance of their contributions, with the

first author being the main author of the paper.

� An exception is the last author, who is often the head of the department in

which the research was carried out. Friction arises when one or more

authors think that the order does not reflect the significance of their

contributions.

� In some branches of humanities, like political science, the trend is to list

authors alphabetically4. While this convention may seem a simple measure

to preempt any dispute, it has its own disadvantages.

� Readers get almost no information on who contributed the most, and if the

main author’s name begins with a letter late in the alphabet, it’s very likely to

be overlooked, or hidden in the “et al” list when the paper is cited by

Order of listing authors

be overlooked, or hidden in the “et al” list when the paper is cited by

others—naturally, not an agreeable scenario.

� Since there is no foolproof system for the ordering author names yet and

journals do not normally arbitrate in such disputes, the onus is on authors to

decide how best to resolve differences in opinion.

� The best time to decide who should be named authors and in what order is

before the research project itself is initiated.5,7 The group of individuals who

will be involved in the project must ideally agree upon these points, with the

person-in-charge assuming a bigger responsibility in clarifying them to junior

researchers.

� Any changes in the level of involvement, or the addition or exclusion of some

When should authorship/order of authors be decided?

� Any changes in the level of involvement, or the addition or exclusion of some

members, during the project should be approved by the individuals involved

and reflected in the author byline. Changes to the author byline after a

manuscript has already been submitted are rare, and if required, should be

explained to the journal.

Unethical authorship practices

Certain questionable practices, described below, are frowned upon in most fields.

Honorary/gift authorship: Naming the head of the department where the study is

carried out as an author of a paper when he/she has made no significant

contribution to the study. This practice may be more prevalent in cultures where

supervisors and seniors are treated with respect and it is considered appropriate

to include them in the byline.

Guest authorship: Naming a certain person (generally a senior, well-known

researcher) an author in the hope that it will boost the chances of a paper being

published, although his/her role in the research may be insignificant.

Ghost authorship: Omitting the name of a significant contributor from the byline

as well as the Acknowledgments section. Such individuals may include those who

will be perceived as having conflicts of interest, medical writers, etc.

Concluding remarks

Since an author shares not only credit but also scientific and, sometimes, social

accountability for a paper, it is the primary responsibility of each author to preserve

scientific integrity. Those who had no significant contributions should desist from taking

undue credit, and all those who had should ensure that they are duly credited. When in

doubt, authors should consult the authorship guidelines provided by the journal they

have chosen for submission and resolve any disputes amicably.

Authorship

have chosen for submission and resolve any disputes amicably.

Authorship

References

1. Epstein R.J. (1993). Six authors in search of a citation: villains or victims of the Vancouver

convention?British Medical Journal, 306, 765–767. (Abstract)

2. Sacco W.P., & Milana S. (1984). Increase in number of authors per article in ten APA journals: 1960–

1980. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 8, 77–83. (Abstract)

3. Rennie D., Yank V., & Emanuel L. (1997). When authorship fails. A proposal to make contributors

accountable. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278, 579–585.

4. Lake D.A. (2010). Who’s on First? Listing Authors by Relative Contribution Trumps the Alphabet. PS:

Political Science & Politics, 43, 43–47.Political Science & Politics, 43, 43–47.

5. Vollmer W.M. (2007). Responsibilities of Authorship. Chest, 132, 2042–2045.

6. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts

Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Reporting of Research:

Authorship and Contributorship. Last accessed October 18, 2011. Available

from:http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html.

7. Albert T, Wager E. How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers. COPE Report

2003, Committee on Publication Ethics, London. Last accessed October 18,2011. Available from:

www.publicationethics.org.uk.

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