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Defining Responsible and Equitable Authorship by a Principle-based Approach

Johansson, Mats LU orcid ; Lerouge, Inge ; Morawska, Magdalena ; Morgan, Rhys and Rosendaal, Frits (2023)
Abstract
Authorship is important for career progression but it also implies responsibility for the integrity of work undertaken. There are various
guidelines for authorship, but with no clear definition and with tacitly agreed standards which vary between disciplines, it can be a
matter of interpretation and negotiation who will be listed as an author. It is often not clear what contribution each person has made
to the specific project and this can lead to authorship disputes.
Some recent studies make clear that responsible and equitable authorship is still far from being the norm. Well known authorship
guidelines and criteria do exist, but do not seem to be widely used. While there can never be a fail-safe mechanism to prevent... (More)
Authorship is important for career progression but it also implies responsibility for the integrity of work undertaken. There are various
guidelines for authorship, but with no clear definition and with tacitly agreed standards which vary between disciplines, it can be a
matter of interpretation and negotiation who will be listed as an author. It is often not clear what contribution each person has made
to the specific project and this can lead to authorship disputes.
Some recent studies make clear that responsible and equitable authorship is still far from being the norm. Well known authorship
guidelines and criteria do exist, but do not seem to be widely used. While there can never be a fail-safe mechanism to prevent authorship
malpractice, universities should always strive to raise awareness of what responsible authorship is amongst their researchers,
encouraging an open dialogue on authorship early on in the research process and creating an environment where these good practices
can flourish.
In this LERU paper, we aim to develop a common understanding of what responsible and equitable authorship is, by using the four
principles of the ALLEA Code as a basis. These principles are core values that one can refer to at any time when dealing with any
aspect of research, including authorship. Depending on the stakeholder, their meaning in the context of attributing responsible and
equitable authorship might slightly differ and have different weightings. To show how this could work in practice, based on the
experience gained within the LERU universities, we formulated recommendations for some of the different stakeholders, such as a)
researchers, b) universities and c) journals. We are aware that there are also other important stakeholders (such as funding agencies)
but we did not address them in this paper.
By raising awareness of the elements that form the basis for responsible and equitable authorship, through the shared European
principles of research integrity, we hope to contribute further to the dialogue and reflection on what responsible and equitable authorship is. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
published
subject
pages
20 pages
publisher
The League of European Research Universities (LERU)
report number
32
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f2afda23-d2fb-4913-b0bf-6865882d62ec
alternative location
https://www.leru.org/files/Publications/2023.09.08_Authorship-paper_fullpaper_DEF.pdf
date added to LUP
2023-09-05 10:52:56
date last changed
2023-09-11 10:05:40
@techreport{f2afda23-d2fb-4913-b0bf-6865882d62ec,
  abstract     = {{Authorship is important for career progression but it also implies responsibility for the integrity of work undertaken. There are various<br/>guidelines for authorship, but with no clear definition and with tacitly agreed standards which vary between disciplines, it can be a<br/>matter of interpretation and negotiation who will be listed as an author. It is often not clear what contribution each person has made<br/>to the specific project and this can lead to authorship disputes.<br/>Some recent studies make clear that responsible and equitable authorship is still far from being the norm. Well known authorship<br/>guidelines and criteria do exist, but do not seem to be widely used. While there can never be a fail-safe mechanism to prevent authorship<br/>malpractice, universities should always strive to raise awareness of what responsible authorship is amongst their researchers,<br/>encouraging an open dialogue on authorship early on in the research process and creating an environment where these good practices<br/>can flourish.<br/>In this LERU paper, we aim to develop a common understanding of what responsible and equitable authorship is, by using the four<br/>principles of the ALLEA Code as a basis. These principles are core values that one can refer to at any time when dealing with any<br/>aspect of research, including authorship. Depending on the stakeholder, their meaning in the context of attributing responsible and<br/>equitable authorship might slightly differ and have different weightings. To show how this could work in practice, based on the<br/>experience gained within the LERU universities, we formulated recommendations for some of the different stakeholders, such as a)<br/>researchers, b) universities and c) journals. We are aware that there are also other important stakeholders (such as funding agencies)<br/>but we did not address them in this paper.<br/>By raising awareness of the elements that form the basis for responsible and equitable authorship, through the shared European<br/>principles of research integrity, we hope to contribute further to the dialogue and reflection on what responsible and equitable authorship is.}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Mats and Lerouge, Inge and Morawska, Magdalena and Morgan, Rhys and Rosendaal, Frits}},
  institution  = {{The League of European Research Universities (LERU)}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{32}},
  title        = {{Defining Responsible and Equitable Authorship by a Principle-based Approach}},
  url          = {{https://www.leru.org/files/Publications/2023.09.08_Authorship-paper_fullpaper_DEF.pdf}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}