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Distribution of authorship in a scientific work
1Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. petroian@gmail.com
Insights
Establishing clear authorship criteria is crucial in medical research. This study proposes a numerical method to objectively value contributions, preventing conflicts and ensuring fair author order.
Area of Science:
- Medical Research Ethics
- Scientific Publication
- Authorship Criteria
Background:
- Publishing research is essential in medicine, but author order often lacks standardized criteria.
- Divergent conventions exist across medical and scientific sectors, leading to potential disputes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a numerical scoring system for valuing individual contributions to scientific research.
- To provide objective guidelines for determining author inclusion and ranking.
Main Methods:
- A scoring system was developed based on the various stages of scientific work.
- Key areas evaluated include idea generation, methodology, data collection, manuscript writing, and group coordination.
- Specific criteria address literature review, problem-solving, patient/material provision, and funding acquisition.
Main Results:
- The proposed method quantifies contributions across 19 distinct aspects of research.
- It offers a framework for ranking authors, addressing honorary authorship, and preventing authorship usurpation.
Conclusions:
- Establishing objective authorship criteria at the project's outset is vital to prevent conflicts.
- The proposed subjective scoring method aims to minimize interference and avoid conflicts of interest in scientific collaborations.
Introduction:
To publish became almost compulsory in Medicine. There is no doubt about the importance of publishing research, but the ordering of its authors is not easy. The lack of internationally accepted criteria led to the establishment of several groups or conventions particularized medical and scientific sectors.
Objective:
To present numerical method to establish rule of value to people who carried out the research, and whether or not incorporated as authors.
Method:
The proposed score is based on the needs of each step when conducting a scientific work. They were divided into topics in which the main ones were: 1) scientific criteria for authorship; 2) create the idea that originated the work and develop hypotheses; 3) structure the method of work; 4) guiding the work; 5) write the manuscript; 6) coordinate the group that carried out the work; 7) reviewing the literature; 8) suggestions incorporated into the work; 9) to solve fundamental problems of labor; 10) to collect data; 11) presentation at scientific meetings; 12 ) lead the job and raise funds; 13) providing patients or material; 14) to do the routine needs; 15) specific fee to participate; 16) criteria for ranking the authors; 17) honorary author; 18) usurpation of the main authorship, 19) acknowledgments .
Conclusions:
It is important to emphasize that, to prevent major conflicts, the group that is willing to conduct a scientific work should establish at the outset, as objectively as possible, the criteria to be adopted for distribution of authorship. The subjective criteria here proposed avoid interference and prevent conflicts of interest.
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