Any piece of scholarly research will have an author or several authors behind it. Defining a paper’s authorship is one of the main ways of enhancing accessibility and ensuring those reponsible for research are appropriately rewarded. In the context of preprints, where research is shared publicly prior to peer review, clear and ethical authorship practices are especially important.
Identifying the authors of a research paper isn’t always as simple as it sounds, however. The issue of authorship can be complicated by several issues, including honorary authorship, ghost authors, and disputes over credit. Furthermore, these issues need to be addressed while adhering to ethical considerations such as transparency and accountability. Therefore, knowing how to accurately and fairly assign authorship, especially in collaborative contexts, is crucial.
What is authorship?
Contributors to a piece of research can qualify for authorship for various reasons, but it is generally ascertained by following the criteria developed by the ICMJE that is widely used in scholarly publishing and provides a shared standard.
The four main criteria for authorship include:
- Making substantial contributions to the conception, design, or data;
- Drafting or critically revising the work;
- Overseeing final approval of the version to be published;
- Being accountable for all aspects of the work.
Authorship, then, is defined as having responsibility for the work and retaining intellectual credit for its contents. Importantly, anyone to be identified as an author must meet all four of the above criteria.
Additionally, any authors must be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific parts of the work. Those who meet only some of the criteria should be acknowledged instead of granted authorship.
In addition to the ICMJE criteria, the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) provides the key types of contributions that qualify for authorship. This taxonomy is useful when used alongside the ICMJE criteria. It can be used to describe what each person contributed to a research paper. While its ultimate aim is to define contributions, and not authorship per se, CRediT can be used alongside the ICMJE criteria to eliminate any ambiguity surrounding authorship.
Why authorship matters
In a world where around 5 million research articles are being published each year, it’s important that we’re able to easily identify who the authors of a piece of work are. Equally as important is the fact that we recognize these people for their academic achievements, ensuring appropriate credit for authors and helping future career progression.
For preprints, authorship becomes visible immediately. Manuscripts are discoverable, citable, and openly accessible from the moment they are posted. This makes accurate author attribution even more important. Clear authorship helps ensure credit is assigned from the earliest stage of research dissemination.
Furthermore, authorship matters more than ever in the era of AI. Maintaining research integrity in the AI era is a big topic within academic publishing. Ensuring that the integration of AI use into academic publishing does not erode the principles of authorship is key. Furthermore, properly citing any AI usage is fundamental to maintaining critical and ethical research standards going forward.
Common problems and ethical considerations
In addition to the use of AI, there are other common problems and ethical considerations associated with the issue of authorship. But what are they?
Honorary authorship
Honorary authorship is when someone is listed as an author despite not meeting the criteria.
Someone may offer honorary authorship to others as a way of receiving favor or boosting the chances of publication or acquiring funding. Honorary authorships may also be given to senior academics or department heads. This may be to promote the paper to prestige journals or funding bodies.
For preprints, honorary authorship is particularly problematic since the work enters the public view immediately. Misattributing authorship may undermine the trust in the research and create conflicts of interest that can directly impact the integrity of the research.
Ghost authorship
Ghost authorship occurs when there is a failure to credit someone responsible for a piece of work. Instead, the work is officially attributed to another researcher.
This usually involves ghostwriters with knowledge of the subject matter being hired to help with data analysis or manuscript writing and editing. Aware of the fact that they will not be credited for their contribution, ghostwriters are essentially paid off to keep quiet about their involvement in the manuscript.
Such scenarios occurring within scientific publishing may seriously harm public trust in science. This has happened many times in healthcare, for example.
Disputes over credit
Disputes over credit are more transparent issues of authorship than the previous two instances.
Such disputes arise when one or more parties are unaware of what constitutes authorship. This is common when the topic of authorship, and who is to be named as an author or co-author, has not been addressed until after the research is completed.
Best practices for assigning authorship
This leads us on to best practices for assigning authorship. To avoid disputes over credit, and to ensure that authorship is correctly assigned, any contributors should discuss and document contributions early and throughout the research process. Following the ICMJE criteria and using CRediT roles can provide a shared framework for decision-making.
A good practice is to create a detailed “Author Contributions” section in the process of research completion. Assign each contributor their role(s); if multiple contributors are listed for the same role, distinguish by degree of contribution (e.g., ‘lead’, supporting’, etc.) Documenting contributions ensures that all those involved in the work are aware of what their roles are. This eliminates any uncertainty surrounding involvement and how authorship will be accredited.
Ultimately, assigning authorship requires transparency and accountability from all those involved in the research process. Have open discussions about expectations and responsibilities during each key stage of the research process, including planning, data collection, writing, and revision. It’s important that no contributors feel unsure about their role(s) or level of authorship. If in doubt, consult the ICMJE criteria alongside CRediT.
Become an author with Preprints
Want to become an author yourself? At Preprints.org, we empower researchers to freely and instantly share their work with a global audience, helping you gain early feedback, boost visibility, and accelerate discovery. Join over 350,000 researchers advancing open science on our accessible, multidisciplinary platform. Ready to submit? Upload your preprint today and make your work quickly discoverable.
Just exploring? Browse over 100,000 preprints across disciplines and stay ahead of the latest research.
