Skip to main content

Authorship Credit on Publications

PPD-0108

The following information on the assignment of Authorship Credit on Publications is presented for the information of the research community.  It is copied from the Office of Research Integrity, Department of Health and Human Service’s publication 

ORI Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research by Nicholas H. Steneck

 HTML Version, September 2006, updated from Revised Printed Edition, August 2007 http://ori.hhs.gov/education/products/RCRintro/

The names that appear at the beginning of a paper serve one important purpose.  They let others know who conducted the research and should get credit for it.  It is important to know who conducted the research in case there are questions about methods, data, and the interpretation of results.  Likewise, the credit derived from publications is used to determine a researcher’s worth.  Researchers are valued and promoted in accordance with the quality and quantity of their research publications.  Consequently, the authors listed on papers should fairly and accurately represent the person or persons responsible for the work in question.

Contribution.  Authorship is generally limited to individuals who make significant contributions to the work that is reported.  This includes anyone who:

  1. Was intimately involved in the conception and design of the research,
  2. Assumed responsibility for data collection and interpretation,
  3. Participated in drafting the publication, and
  4. Approved the final version of the publication.

There is disagreement, however, over whether authorship should be limited to individuals who contribute to all phases of a publication or whether individuals who made more limited contributions deserve authorship credit.

The widely accepted Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, authored by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), sets a high standard for authorship.  It recommends limiting authorship to persons who contribute to the conception and design of the work or to data collection and interpretation and, in addition, play an important role in drafting and approving the final publication.  Anyone who plays a lesser role can be listed under acknowledgments but not at the beginning of the paper as an author.