The pressure to publish is an all too familiar feeling in academia. But authorship is a complicated subject. Who should be included as an author? What about publication requirements related to authorship? And ethical considerations? 

 

When putting together a manuscript for submission, it’s important to consider who contributed what to the materials in the manuscript. While there are different authorship standards that academic journals refer to, such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in health sciences, most governing bodies agree that the minimum requirement for authorship is: 

Substantial contributions to the work 

AND 

Accountability for the work that was done and its presentation in publication. 

 

Those individuals who are included as authors should be active contributors to the work and how it is presented for publication. Be sure to check the author guidelines for the journal you are submitting. In some spaces, the Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT) is used to describe each person’s contributions to the research outputs. CRediT defines fourteen specific types of contributor roles.  

If someone has contributed to the project but has not done enough to be an author, acknowledgment of the work is important. But there are certain types of authorship that should be avoided 

  1.  

  2. Ghost Authorship  

Ghost authorship or the practice of not naming someone as an author nor acknowledging their work who has significantly contributed to the research is wrong. Contributions should be acknowledged appropriately. 

 

  1. Guest Authorship 

It may be tempting to add a “big name” as an author with the hope that including them will increase your chances of getting published. This is referred to as “guest authorship” and is another type of authorship to avoid. 

 

  1. Gift Authorship 

Authorship should also not be bestowed as currency. Naming someone as an author as a favor when that person has not contributed significantly to the research is called “gift authorship” and is another practice to avoid. 

 

If you are interested in learning more about guidance for who should be included as an author and best practices to use when working on scholarly outputs, come join us for the ASCEND webinar on March 26th. We will talk about what it means to be an author, best practices, and ethical issues involved.  

 

ASCEND: The Roles and Responsibilities of Authorship: Best Practices and Guidelines 

Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 11am – 12pm 

Academic authorship status entails both privilege and responsibility on the labor and quality of scholarly work. It is important for developing and established scholars and researchers to understand what it means to be an author, best practices for discussing authorship status with colleagues, and ethical issues involved with authorship status. 

Join A.R. Dykes Research and Learning Librarians Prasanna Vaduvathiriyan and Perry Weidling as they discuss the definitions of authorship, following best practices of assigning authorship, and how to communicate with others about appropriate status and credit on academic publications.