Authorship: Who is an author? What are authorship roles?

Who is an author?  

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html 

“The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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. All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged…” 

What are authorship roles? 

Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) https://credit.niso.org/contributor-roles-defined/ 

The 14 roles listed in CRediT are: "Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing"

These guidelines replace the Vancouver Protocol. They are adopted internationally and by any journals across the world (including ASHA journals).

ASHA journal authorship protocols

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association journals have published their guidelines for authorship published here: https://academy.pubs.asha.org/asha-journals-author-resource-center/manuscript-preparation/authorship-and-publication-ethics/.

They are an extension of the (now outdated) Vancouver Protocol.

1. Who should be an author?

"Authorship is determined by following ASHA Journals’ Authorship Criteria and Guidelines, which are based on the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) requirements."

"Naming authors on a scientific paper ensures that the appropriate individuals get credit, and are accountable, for the research being reported. As of January 1, 2020, all ASHA journals have adopted the authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Whereas the ASHA Journals authorship criteria were previously three in number and written such that meeting any of the three could suffice to warrant authorship credit, the ICMJE recommendations comprise four criteria, all of which are required to claim authorship: 

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND 
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND 
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND 
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved..."(International Committee of Medical Journal Editors)

2. What are considered to be author contributions? 

"ASHA Journals has adopted the CRediT Taxonomy to provide the opportunity to describe who participated and the roles they played in the development of the work. The 14 roles listed are from the CRedit (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) Taxonomy, a classification standard used to ensure that authors are credited for their contributions toward published scholarly works. The roles describe each contributor’s specific contribution to the scholarly output."

The 14 roles listed in the CRediT Taxonomy are: "Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing"