Credit and authorship practices: educational and environmental influences
Mark C House1, Jeffrey I Seeman
1Giant Steps Research, Gainesville, Florida 32606, USA. markh@giantstepsresearch.com
Accountability in Research
|October 7, 2010
Summary
Academic chemists prioritize core intellectual contributions for publication credit, valuing data acquisition highly. Personal ethics and graduate education significantly influence credit policies, while institutional guidelines have minimal impact.
Area of Science:
- Chemistry
- Scientific Publishing
- Research Ethics
Background:
- Authorship criteria and credit attribution are critical in academic science.
- Understanding how credit is assigned influences research integrity and collaboration.
- Academic chemists' perspectives on authorship are essential for evaluating current practices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To survey academic chemists in U.S. Ph.D.-granting institutions regarding authorship criteria.
- To investigate factors influencing chemists' policies on giving credit for scientific publications.
- To assess the perceived importance of various contributions and influences on credit attribution.
Main Methods:
- A survey was distributed to academic chemists at U.S. Ph.D.-granting institutions.
- Respondents rated 15 criteria for scientific publication authorship.
- Respondents rated 8 potential influences on their personal credit attribution policies.
Main Results:
- Core intellectual contributions and data acquisition were rated as the most important criteria for authorship.
- Minor contributions, such as a single essential suggestion, received low ratings.
- Personal ethical considerations ('doing the right thing') and graduate educational experiences were the highest-rated influences on credit policies.
- Institutional policies on responsible conduct of research (RCR) were rated as the least influential.
Conclusions:
- Academic chemists emphasize substantial intellectual input and data generation for authorship.
- Individual ethical judgment and formative educational experiences are primary drivers of credit attribution practices.
- Current institutional RCR policies appear to have limited influence on chemists' personal credit policies.
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