"I must be the corresponding author, because I wrote the entire paper."
How many of you agree with the above statement?
One of the most "presumed" conflicting steps in research is who gets to author it? or specifically who gets the status as a first or corresponding author?
Both the answers are simple. It depends on “who did what?” and “whether the contribution is worthy for authorship?”
To elaborate on this, presenting a scenario to figure out
(i) What contributions lead to authorship?
(ii) How to decide the author's order in a publication
The Principal Investigator 'Dr. Me' got a grant for a research proposal X. A significant part of the fund was allocated as the Ph.D. Work for 'Ms. You.'
'Ms. You', while working, came up with a particular idea, 'Y,' that would add value to proposal X. For executing the idea, 'Dr. Me' approached 'Dr. Her' (for her theoretical inputs) and her technical support teammate "Ms. Associate."
'Ms. You' completed the experiment under 'Dr. Her's, & Dr. Me's' guidance with technical support from Ms. Associate and the supervisors interpreted the result together
Ms. You gave a presentation to an open forum. 'Dr. Non-associate,' present in the discussion suggested an additional/different method that could make the entire application translational.
On mutual consent from Dr. Me and Dr. Non-associate, Ms. You then worked on it with inputs from the latter and proved the new concept/method worked better/more productive.
Due to interdisciplinary dialogue and teamwork, the team completed the research with an impactful output and translation outcome. Now it is time to publish the findings in a reputed peer-reviewed indexed journal.
Ms. You writes the first draft with results and interpretation as suggested by Dr. Her and Ms. Associate.
Dr. Me checks for accuracy of data & methods and makes necessary corrections.
Dr. Non-associate reviewed the entire paper, rearranged the content distribution, edited the sentences, gave a flow to the content, connected a few missing links, and closed any vague assumption with theoretical postulates.
Ms. You makes all the edits, and Dr. Me makes the final edits
Who should be the first author of this research article?
The person (Ms. You) who was responsible for majority of the work
The person (Dr. Associate) who brought a new dimension to the initial research output and made it more translational .
The person (Dr. Me) who is the subject expert & ideator of the project, and the awardee of the project grant
Who should be the corresponding author of this research article?
The person (Dr. Me) who is the subject expert & ideator of the project, and the awardee of the project grant
The person (Ms. You) who was responsible for proving it did most of the work
The person (Dr. Associate) who brought a new dimension to the initial research output and made it more translational
Should Dr. Non-associate be considered for authorship?
Yes
No
Can a person who was involved in fund procurement and research management be considered an author?
Yes
No
Who is/are considered as an author(s) in the research article?
Any individual involved in either ideating, designing, shaping, executing, and interpreting a particular research work.
Any individual who is not a part of the research activity
Who is/are NOT considered as an author(s) in the research article?
Any individual who is not a part of the research activity (e.g like department or Institute head under whom the academic/research group is associated or placed)
Any individual involved in either ideating, designing, shaping, executing, and interpreting a particular research work.
Answers for all the above questions are option 1
What contributions lead to authorship?
Contributions that make it authorship-worthy is listed in CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) - click the link to gain more understanding of the author's contribution. CRediT is an outcome of a collaborative brainstorming workshop led by Harvard University and the Wellcome Trust, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), researchers and publishers.
Listed below are 14 contributor roles as per the article Publishing: Credit where credit is due (Allen et al, 2014) in Nature.
| | |
|---|---|---|
Taxonomy category | | Description of role |
Study conception | |
|
Methodology | |
|
Computation | |
|
Formal analysis | | Developing/working in statistical & mathematical or other formal techniques to analyse study data. |
Investigation | Performed the experiments | Execute research experiments, prepare trials /samples |
Investigation | Data/evidence collection |
|
Resources | | Provide provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation or other analysis tools. (Can be considered under acknowledgment depending on the contribution) |
Data curation | | Management activities to annotate (produce metadata) and maintain research data for initial use and later re-use. |
Writing/manuscript preparation | writing the initial draft | Collating all the information to prepare the first draft |
Writing/manuscript preparation: | critical review, commentary or revision | Provide critical review, commentary or revision. |
Writing/manuscript preparation | visualization/data presentation | Visualization/data presentation (Representation of the data as visuals) |
Supervision | |
|
Project administration | | Coordination or management of research activities leading to this publication. |
Funding acquisition | | Acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication. |
Such categorization will help
As a reference point/SOP to limit author disputes
Promote researchers and recognizing their contributions
Showcase the interdisciplinary collaborations and synergy of activities.
Indirectly advertise the expertise of each author for future networking as potential collaborators
How to decide the author's order in a publication
The most coveted positions in the publication are the first author and corresponding author, and the names in the middle can be placed based on relative contribution and mutual consent.
The first author is mainly the person who has contributed the maximum to work; there can be multiple first authors.
The corresponding author is a key position reserved for the lead investigator/supervisor responsible for entire research coordination and supervision. He/she will hold full responsibility to answer all queries related to the publications on behalf of the team.
Comments