AUTHORSHIP OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

Abstract

In order to avoid disputes and misunderstandings, regarding who will be the author, and in what sequence, these should be determined by the participants early in the research process. Authorship roles can vary from intellectual contribution to the conduction of research work, role in writing the manuscript to reviewing the final draft of the manuscript. All authors are responsible for the quality, accuracy, and ethics of the work, but one author must be identified as the corresponding author who will be accountable if questions arise or more information is needed, and who will take responsibility for the work as a whole. Alternatively, since authors may differ on the nature and magnitude of contributions, each author may be asked to describe their own. This description of author contributions should be printed with the article. The authors are responsible for creating all components of the manuscript. If writers are provided support by the sponsoring or funding institution or corporation to draft or revise the article, the name of the writer and their sponsoring organization must be provided. Their names and contributions will be provided with the acknowledgements. Journals should discourage honorary authorship (when authorship is granted as a favor to someone powerful or prestigious who would not have qualified for it otherwise) and should also try to ensure that all those who qualify as authors are listed. All authors must take responsibility in writing for the accuracy of the manuscript, and one author must be the guarantor and take responsibility for the work as a whole. A growing trend among journals is to also require that for reports containing original data, at least one author (eg, the principal investigator) should indicate that she or he had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. This helps assure that authors, and not funding sources, have final say over the analysis and reporting of their results.