So you want to be an author?

What is one of the most challenging (but completely preventable) research obstacles? Authorship.

At the beginning of every research project, it is imperative that the study team discusses authorship. Specifically: what does one need to do to be an author? Each individual should understand the difference between authorship and acknowledgment, know exactly what they need to do if they want to be listed as an author, and understand how names will be ordered on the final paper.

I've seen several research teams fall apart at the end of a project when the sensitive topic of authorship comes up. If the team did not discuss authorship at the onset, it is inevitable that someone will have hurt feelings if he/she thought they did enough to be an author but the team did not include them. Additionally, individuals may be involved in a single phase of the project and simply may not know how much they contributed to the overall project. Or best of all, when the team adds an author for name recognition who hardly did any work, team members will feel shortchanged and disappointed.

ICMJE has specific criteria that must be met to be included as an author in a medical journal. All four criteria must be met:

• Make a substantial contribution to:

  • The concept or design of the work, or

  • The acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data

• Be involved in drafting the paper or providing critical revisions

• Provide final approval of the manuscript

• Be accountable for the work

  
  

It is essential that research teams review these criteria in advance and provide pathways to authorship for those who are interested. In other words, make sure each person has the opportunity to meet criteria if they want to be an author.

**For those who are especially magnanimous: think about who benefits the most from authorship. If you have a medical student applying for residency, a first authored paper will go a LONG way for their career. Make sure they have the opportunity to do the work to earn the top spot.

The team should also be clear that involvement in a single component of the study (i.e. data collection) will garner an acknowledgement but not authorship. Every journal handles acknowledgements differently, but it is generally allowed at most journals.

Diligent Consulting has developed rubric for determining who qualifies as an author and what order the names should be listed. The rubric can be downloaded in Excel format.

Authorship_rubric.xlsx

Download XLSX • 17KB