Practical Approaches for Navigating Authorship Conflict

Authorship confers both credit and responsibility for original scientific research. It is a highly prized, currency-like resource in academic medicine, and discussing it transparently with colleagues can feel as uncomfortable as talking about salaries. Junior researchers especially need to feel confident in their approach to navigating contentious authorship scenarios because they arise so commonly in academic research. Fortunately, there are simple tools researchers can employ to successfully prevent and navigate most authorship conflict. With these tools, researchers can systematically identify authors, outline author roles, recognize common forms of authorship conflict, and escalate conflict to appropriate channels for resolution.