Using the contributor role taxonomy (CRediT) as a tool in resolving authorship disputes at the NIH

The Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT) was released in 2014 with the aim of improving the attribution of credit and responsibilities in scholarly publications. Besides encouraging researchers to use CRediT for specification of contributions in publications, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Research Program (IRP) has been using CRediT as a tool to investigate and resolve authorship disputes pre- and post-publication. In this article, we share the policies and procedures used at the NIH IRP for resolving authorship disputes, with the hope that other administrators and institutions might find value in our approach and provide feedback where necessary. The NIH IRP employs CRediT to offer a more objective and structured approach to understanding how a supervisor, complainant, or other parties involved in a dispute view the overall contributions in a project. This approach provides both the research group and the mediator or investigator with a common vocabulary to describe contributions and minimizes the likelihood of misunderstanding. Developing robust and transparent institutional mechanisms to address and resolve disputes, including guidance on how to address conflicts on authorship and authorship order, might contribute to a more productive and healthier research environment.