Best Practice to Order Authors in Multi/Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Research Publications

Area of Science:

• Health research
• Interdisciplinary studies
• Research ethics

Background:

• Authorship disputes are common in multi/interdisciplinary health research teams.
• Unresolved conflicts can impede knowledge sharing, accountability, and credit attribution.
• Current proposed solutions include quantitative authorship schemes or contributorship systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel five-step best practice for managing authorship and contributorship in multi/interdisciplinary research.
• To integrate both authorship and contributorship for more equitable credit distribution.
• To enhance fairness, trust, and collegiality within research teams.

Main Methods:

• Development of a five-step procedure.
• Incorporation of continuous dialogue among team members.
• Utilization of a detailed contributorship taxonomy.
• Creation of a declaration to justify authorship order based on contributions.

Main Results:

• The proposed method integrates both contributorship and authorship.
• It facilitates continuous dialogue and clear documentation of contributions.
• The approach aims to justify authorship order based on self-reported contributions.
• Institutions can implement this in responsible conduct of research training.

Conclusions:

• Authorship and contributorship are likely to coexist in research.
• The proposed five-step best practice offers a structured approach to manage both.
• This method promotes fairness, trust, and collegiality, reducing research team conflicts.
• Implementation in training can improve research conduct and collaboration.