Authorship contributions

Naming authors on research papers and presentations ensures that appropriate people get credit and are accountable for the reported research. 

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (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)

https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html 

The CRediT Taxonomy  provides the opportunity to describe each person’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" https://credit.niso.org/

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"

Guide to authorship

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.

Authorship guidelines for PhD students

Here are the authorship guidelines for PhD students from CSU's policy documents

https://policy.csu.edu.au/view.current.php?id=00272%20

Research students

(12)A higher degree by research (HDR) student should be listed as principal author on any multiple-authored article that is substantially based on the student’s work for the HDR award. If a supervisor meets the criteria for authorship, they should take second author status, unless the student and supervisor have agreed otherwise.

(13)Acknowledgement of a supervisor as a co-author is appropriate if the supervisor meets the criteria for authorship as stated in the Authorship: A guide supporting the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research guide and the Research Authorship Guidelines.

(14)There may be circumstances where the supervisor is the principal author, but this must be with the student's written approval. If a research supervisor and their student form a contract for their research collaboration, it must include a statement on the principles to be used to determine authorship.

Authorship guidelines

Journal authorship can be complex, particularly when working on large projects and in large teams. Here are two conventions to assist with these conversations:
1. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors advice (below) is an updated version of the Vancouver Protocol and is found here: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/
"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 revising 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."

2. CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) authorship statement: https://ijast.org/credit-author-statement/
Here are the list of potential authorship contributions. The description of each is available on the webpage above: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data Curation, Writing – Original, Draft Writing – Review & Editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project Administration, Funding Acquisition.

3. Tips for determining authorship credit (American Psychological Association): https://www.apa.org/science/leadership/students/authorship-paper

Defining authorship

I often have conversations with my students and colleagues about journal authorship. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors advice (below) is an updated version of the Vancouver Protocol and is found here: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/

"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 revising 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."