Authorship

A topic in research methodology

In everyday life, authorship is usually a fairly straightforward matter: the author is the person, or the authors are the people, who wrote something. However, that is not how authorship is usually understood in research:

Authorship in research

In research it is normal for results to be reported in research journals. Sometimes the research reported has been carried out by one person, who wrote the article. However many research studies are team efforts, and in these cases it may be that not all the team were directly involved in the writing up.

Most journals see authorship as belonging to those people who made substantial intellectual contributions to the study being reported. That might include (depending upon the form of research) such involvement as contributions to conceptualisation and planning of a study, developing and carrying out analyses, even if by people who did not write-up the final study.

Ethics of authorship

Journals normally require that the authorship of a submission should include all those who have made significant contributions to the intellectual work (i.e., somewhat more than just technical help like data input or proof-reading), and no one else. It is unethical to exclude from authorship those who can reasonably be seen to have made substantial intellectual inputs. It is also unethical to include as authors those who have not made such contributions. So, for example, a line manager should not be listed as an author simply because she or he hired the researcher or provided material support. However, if the line manager has developed a research programme that provides the context for a study, and has been involved in the conceptualisation of the study that might be sufficient.

These conventions have not always been in place, even among the great authors:

"Back in Paris from their five-year expedition Bonpland reluctantly wrote one of the thirty volumes dedicated to their voyage, though Humboldt placed his name on all the works."

Wilson, 1995

Aimé Goujaud Bonpland accompanied the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt on his expedition to the America, and was employed by him as his secretary for the trip.

Imagine writing a whole book, and having your boss put his name as author. Actually this still happens in a sense – when someone is employed to 'write for hire' for a corporation: many documents appeared with the organisation named as author. However, it is normally understood that academics, such as university teachers, will usually publish under their own name (and may even earn royalties – albeit these are usually modest with academic books) and this work does not belong to their employers. This should be clear in the contract signed when agreeing employment.

The notion of authorship was once taken quite lightly by some scientists:

"The friendship of Woehler and Liebig stands out as a sublime example of scientific fraternity. Liebig spared no words in praise of his friend. 'The achievement of our joint work upon uric acid and oil of bitter almonds was his work. Without envy and without jealousy, hand in hand we plodded our way; when the one needed help the other was ready. Some idea of this relationship will be obtained when I mention that many of our smaller pieces of work which bear our joint names were done by one alone; they were charming little gifts which one presented to the other'. How different this from the too-frequent haggling of scientists over priority of discoveries!"

Jaffe, 1934

This type of 'gift authorship' is today considered a kind of scientific malpractice as if two researchers add the other's name to their publications this inflates publication lists that academic are often judged on. [Perhaps when evaluating someone's publications, publication counts and citations should be shared out, so a paper co-written with two colleagues and cited by 90 other publications only counts as ¹/₃ publication and 30 citations for each author? 😉]

Authorship of student theses…

In many countries the core of a student thesis is a set of presented/published papers on a related theme, and these are often co-written with supervisors and possibly other members of the research group. In the English University system it more common for the thesis to be written up as one continuous account of the research. The convention is that the student is the author, and is expected to acknowledge any support they have had, and the inclusion of any work that is undertaken by or with another person.

Generally the student research project is guided by the supervisors who may make substantive contributions to conceptualising and designing the research and the data analysis, and offer suggestions on the interpretation of data and the conclusions and implications of the study. This does not usually need to be explicitly reported in the thesis as this is the expected role of a research supervisor.

… and articles deriving from student theses

However, when the student wishes to publish work form their thesis, it is important to remember the guidelines on authorship that apply to journals follow a different conventions. It is quite likely that papers deriving form a student these will be co-authored by one or more supervisors. This will certainly not always be the case, but the student (or former student) and supervisor should both be happy that authorship is properly recognised in any submitted articles.

Variations in practice

There are sometimes particular authorship conventions that tend to be used in particular disciplines or fields.

Related article:

Read about the mystery of the disappearing authors

Further reading:

• American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington D C: American Psychological Association. (Many journals in the social sciences, not just psychology, ask authors to follow the guidance in this manual.)
• Jaff, Bernard (1934) Crucibles. The Lives and Achievements of the Great Chemists. Jarrolds Publishers.
• Taber, K. S. (2013). Who counts as an author when reporting educational research? Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 14(1), 5-8. doi: 10.1039/c2rp90014a
  (This free-to-access article is an editorial offering guidance for a chemistry education journal, but is equally applicable to other areas of educational research.)
• Taber, K. S. (2018). Assigning Credit and Ensuring Accountability. In P. A. Mabrouk & J. N. Currano (Eds.), Credit Where Credit Is Due: Respecting Authorship and Intellectual Property (Vol. 1291, pp. 3-33). Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society. [The publisher appears to have made this open access]
• Taber, K. S., Brock, R., & Martínez Sainz, G. (2015). Thinking together, learning together, writing together: synergies and challenges in the collaborative supervisory relationship. Working Papers Series, (Faculty of Education University of Cambridge Working Paper 02/2015), 1-32.
  (with responses from two faculty students: Richard Brock & Gabriela Martínez Sainz)
• Wilson, Jason (1995) Introduction, in Humboldt, Alexander von, Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, Penguin.