Contributorship over Authorship

“Publications are an important measure of research productivity for scientists across all disciplines. Publications, and citations to them, are in fact the coin of the realm. Despite the importance of scientific authorship to the professional prospects of scientists, the concept of “authorship” remains clouded. Does the order of authorship signify a descending level of contribution to the work? Not always. Is the first author responsible for verifying that all authors have acted responsibly? Not necessarily.”

Complaints like these caused Marcia McNutt, President of the National Academy of Sciences, to call together a small group from leading journals and scientific organizations at the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California in Februari 2017. The aim of the session was to discuss how to promote standards that would increase transparency in author contributions of research papers in the natural and social sciences.

The considerations regarding authorship discussed during the meeting are described in the article Transparency in Authors’ Contributions and Responsibilities to Promote Integrity in Scientific Publication by McNutt et al. (2017). McNutt et al. believe their proposed recommendations could apply internationally. They suggest: “(1) the names of authors accompanying journal articles should provide insight into who is responsible for which contributions; (2) a process should exist to confirm that the list is complete; (3) clearly articulated standards should establish whether and when the contributions of an individual justify authorship credit; and (4) those involved in the generation of scientific knowledge should follow these best practices.”

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