To make such decisions objectively I’d recommend that you refer back to the ICMJE’s (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) criteria of authorship which includes:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

contributors who don’t meet this criteria could be listed in the acknowledgment section of the paper.

link to the ICMJE’s recommendation regarding authorship:

http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

To make such decisions objectively I’d recommend that you refer back to the ICMJE’s (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) criteria of authorship which includes:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

contributors who don’t meet this criteria could be listed in the acknowledgment section of the paper.

link to the ICMJE’s recommendation regarding authorship:

http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

Thank you, Abdulhameed. This is very helpful!

You’re welcome... glad it helped

Monika Połczyńska the best practice in my opinion would be discuss this issue (contribution/benefit) before one embarks on a research project.

In case of students' involvement in faculty initiated research, it is usually the university that formulates policies that best serves interest of all engaged in the project. However, it is good to have a signed student research agreement in place to clarify the benefits one would obtain from the research engagement (class credit, course grades, authorship, etc.).

In terms of objectivity towards authorship rights I agree with Abdulhameed Mahmood on the ICMJE guidelines, additionally you could also refer to the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines;

https://publicationethics.org/authorship

https://publicationethics.org/news/what-constitutes-authorship-new-cope-discussion-document

and

https://authorservices.wiley.com/asset/Best-Practice-Guidelines-on-Publishing-Ethics-2ed.pdf

My response is Yes and No

No because the student started as a volunteer for the research project as such he or she may not be considered as a co-author.

Yes because if the student meets the requirements/guidelines of a co-author, i think he/she can be considered as a co-author . Some of the popular requirements as stated by ICMJE, National Academy of Science, journals and others are that:

My advice is that you check the requirement of who an author or a co-author should be from the journal you want to publish your research findings.

These articles below may also help:

· Clement TP. Authorship matrix: a rational approach to quantify individual contributions and responsibilities in multi-author scientific articles. Sci Eng Ethics. 2014 Jun;20(2):345-61. doi: 10.1007/s11948-013-9454-3. Epub 2013 Jun 29. PMID: 23813053; PMCID: PMC4033822.

· Kornhaber, R. A., McLean, L. M., & Baber, R. J. (2015). Ongoing ethical issues concerning authorship in biomedical journals: an integrative review. International journal of nanomedicine, 10, 4837–4846. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S87585

You can always acknowledge them without having them as co-authors. Authorship might not even be useful for many of them and a very long list of coauthors could hinder the value.

No, if they voluntered or were payed to help You collecting data. One can always

state ones gratitude in a footnote to the script.

I agree with Dr Irfan Adil Majid on a practice to discuss the contribution and benefits before students involvement in a project.

However, one old tradition still exist (sorry, but I couldn't resist to post it). Please don't take it seriously.

Hello Monika, great to be part of this discussion.

The points brought by our colleagues for sure they are right. Always consider the ICMJE’s (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) criteria for authorship. However, I strongly believe that you can build a better short- and long-term relationship with you folks if you talk and listen to them.

First thing I believe you should take into account is their expectations. Some students (undergrad or in more advanced programs) do not expect something more than a simple academic credit. Others really expect for something more (when they are aware) and even would like to receive more tasks so they could contribute much more to the submission preparation.

To be honest, there is nothing better than to settle everything in advance. Try to hear what they are looking for so you will definitely have a good decision.

As pointed out previously, you should discuss these issues prior to including a student into a research project. However, I believe including student coauthors in publications is beneficial for them as long as their contribution is significant, and also for you as you show that you have mentored someone in the tales of research. Taking into account the ICMJE’s criteria, maybe you could ask your students to help you draft the paper, format the references to match the journal's style etc. From my experience, I have seen students who contributed more to a paper (data collection, performing experiments etc) than "senior reseachers" (who just provided patient data or samples), but who were not listed as coauthors and not even in the acknowledgements.

I believe everyone with a considerable contribution (and not just advices) should be added as coauthors