From Charles Sturt University Research Bulletin Edition 86, May 2021
Guide to research Authorship
Who is an author?
To be recognised as an author, you have made significant intellectual or scholarly contribution to the research and its output, and you have agreed to be listed as an author. What is significant intellectual or scholarly contribution? Allowing for variations of authorship conventions across disciplines, significant intellectual or scholarly contribution constitutes two or more of the following:
- Conception and design of the project or output
- Acquisition of research data where the acquisition has required significant intellectual judgement, planning, design, or input (this does not include activities involved funding acquisition)
- Contribution of knowledge, where justified, including Indigenous knowledge
- Analysis or interpretation of research data
- Drafting significant parts of the research output or critically revising it so as to contribute to its interpretation.
Meeting these criteria is the minimum threshold for authorship and it is worth noting that some journals, disciplines, and institutions require a higher threshold.
Who is not an author?
Authorship should not be attributed solely on the basis of the person/s:
- Providing funding, data, materials, infrastructure or access to equipment
- Providing routine technical support, technical advice or technical assistance
- Position or profession of an individual
- Being a paid or voluntary contribution status or reputation, used to elevate and promote the research without providing significant intellectual or scholarly contribution (ie ‘guest or honorary authorship’).
Claiming, demanding, accepting or offering authorship without significant intellectual or scholarly contribution is a breach of the Code.
What can I do?
At the start of the research, discuss authorship with the other researchers and check in with them regularly throughout the research. If there is more than one author, an authorship agreement should be in place before the commencement of writing up the research. Agreements are available from the Research Integrity, Ethics and Compliance website.
