There are so many levels to contribute to a study from generating the fundamental research ideas in a group or developing a model to do the experiments, advising or reviewing a paper. What is the minimum to be an author? How you define the order of authors in your institute? Have you ever rejected sharing credit (or the opposite, being rejected)?
For a researcher to become one of the coauthors, either formal participation in the group or formal supervising of the group is not enough but a substantial contribution to the research work is necessary. I once worked in a working committee organized at another university. The working committee was divided into two subgroups, and I was the main author of the result of one of the subgroups. I offered the professor who was the chief of the working committee to become one of the coauthors of the paper, but he did not accept it by saying that he did not make any substantial contribution to our subgroup. I think that he was a conscientious person.
To be a co-authors ethically there should be substantive contributions by all the authors. This is an ideal situations but often violated. Some even ask for authorship even after giving minor advice.
For the order of the authors see the following RG link:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does_the_order_of_authors_in_an_article_follow_certain_guidelines/1
Please let me know if this reference/site is useful to you:
What constitutes authorship? - Committee on Publication Ethics
https://publicationethics.org/files/u7141/Authorship_DiscussionDocument_0_0.pdfJun 9, 2014 ...
It discusses existing guidelines on authorship, puts together ... and appropriate for the medium (scholarly books, journal articles, creative writing). ... author should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors. All .... http://www.asanet.org/images/asa/docs/pdf/CodeofEthics.pdf.
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
The last few answers are most appropriate and useful. One sometimes sees publications with DOZENS of authors. Is this appropriate?
The following paper has 97 authors:
A new subfamily classification of the Leguminosae based on
a taxonomically comprehensive phylogeny. TAXON 66 (1) • February 2017: 44–77.
Everyone has some contribution. In such cases it is OK but there should not be unnecessary inclusion of even a single author.
Dear Robert
Anybody contributing to a research article has a right to claim co-authorship of the final work unless they intentionally refuse co-authorship or if they decline to take any credit even in the acknowledgement section.
The percentage of work contributed by each author is irrelevant in deciding whether they can be co-authors, rather the percentage of work contributed to the research study should help determined the author-rank each author would take whether 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th author.
Personally, I have turned down co-authoring opportunities for some articles which I contributed to, for one of the following reasons:
1. There were already 3 co-authors. Having 4 four co-authors to one research paper seem excessive to me, therefore, I only accept co-authorship in an article with 2 co-authors which makes it a maximum of 3 when I am included.
2. If I feel the research study isn't good enough or thorough, I will decline to be a co-author and not have my name on it even if I contributed significantly to the work.
3. The kind of journal the research piece will be published in, is also important to me. I can decline co-authorship of good papers I contributed to if the lead author insist they will published it in non-specialist journals.
Generally, these are some among many reasons why significant contributors to a research piece may decline co-authorship.
For me, the rule of thumb is to ask your colleagues early whether they really want to be co-authors or not in the research study, instead of implying they will automatically be co-authors.
Again, anybody contributing to a research article has a right to claim co-authorship of the final work no matter how little their contribution is. Any attempt to develop a percentage or formula for co-author contribution may not be valid because even small contributions can make a big difference to a paper
Regards
Peterson
Thank you for all of you! From now, I feel more comfortable in authorship issues.
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