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Medical Sciences Library

Sharing Your Research in the Health Sciences

Guidance from the MSL on sharing posters, presentations, articles and other scholarly works

Authorship

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends four criteria for authorship:

  • Substantial contributions to conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the data; AND
  • Drafting and revising of the work for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, including the integrity and accuracy of the results.

 

Many journals will ask for a written declaration of each author's contributions to the research.

This Contributor Roles Summary from the Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT) can be a helpful guide.

 

Those who do not meet all four criteria may still be acknowledged as contributors to the work. This is especially useful for funders, technical editors, librarians, and advisors.

 

Can Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, be an author?

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) position statement on Authorship and AI tools states that AI

  • cannot be listed as an author because it cannot take responsibility for the submitted work
  • that authors must disclose the use of AI tools in the Methods or similar section, how they were used, and which tools were used
  • that authors are still fully responsible for content, including that produced by AI.

 

Responsibilities of authorship

  • All data are clearly and accurately presented.
  • Hypotheses and aims of research are clearly stated.
  • The work is described in sufficient detail that other researchers may replicate the studies.
  • Potentially hazardous aspects of the research are clearly identified.
  • All relevant works, both confirmatory and contradictory, are cited.
  • Conflicts of interest have been identified and disclosed to the editors, reviewers and readers.
  • Use of artificial intelligence tools, such as large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, are properly logged and disclosed according to current best practices. See university guidelines, appropriate citation manuals, and publisher or journal instructions for specifics. 

Author Order

  • Standard practices for author order differ among disciplines; e.g., alphabetical order used in particle physics.
  • In the biological or life sciences, common conventions define: first author, senior author and corresponding author.
    • First author – the individual who has taken primary responsibility for the intellectual core of the work.
    • Senior author – head of the research team.
    • Corresponding author – the co-author designated to interact with reviewers/editors and the public.

 

Discuss authorship issues, such as who will be listed as an author, author order, and contributors to be acknowledged before beginning the project or when situations change, such when someone joins or leaves the project.

See this guidance from COPE - How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers