Ethics and authorship

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Ethics and authorship

• Graduate training seminar
• LM Campbell

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Thinking about ethics and authorship

• Take the ethics and authorship pop quiz
• Variations in authorship formatting -- what does
  it all mean?

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According to the International Committee of
Medical Journal Editors
All persons designated as authors should qualify
for authorship, and all those who qualify should
be listed. Each author should have participated
sufficiently in the work to take public
responsibility for appropriate portions of the
content. One or more authors should take
responsibility for the integrity of the work as a
whole, from inception to published article.
http//www.onlineethics.diamax.com/cms/15795.aspx
authorship
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• Authorship credit should be based only on
• Substantial contributions to conception, design,
  or acquisition of data, or analysis and
  interpretation of data
• Drafting the article or revising it critically
  for important intellectual content
• Final approval of draft manuscript.

Conditions 1, 2, and 3 must all be met.
Acquisition of funding, the collection of data,
or general supervision of the research group, by
themselves, do not justify authorship.
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Others have adopted the ICMJE standard

• Authorship should be limited to those who have
  made a significant contribution to the concept,
  design, execution, or interpretation of the
  research study.
• All those who have made significant contributions
  should be offered the opportunity to be listed as
  authors.
• Other individuals who have contributed to the
  study should be acknowledged, but not identified
  as authors.
• The sources of financial support for the project
  should be disclosed.
• American Institute of Physics

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Variations IDRC, Canada

• Start with defining the research process
• Most research activities consist of five distinct
  steps leading up to publication
• conceptualisation - a process whereby a group of
  colleagues generate, though creative thinking and
  interactions, an idea for a research activity
• planning the research, including the preparation
  of detailed protocols, proposals, budget etc
• implementation of the project and conduct of data
  collection and information gathering
• data analysis and interpretation
• writing and editing of research papers.

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IDRC, Canada

• Defining authorship
• two criteria for deciding who should be
  considered an author
• An author is an individual who has participated
  in at least two of the five research steps. One
  of these must be the writing and editing of the
  paper.
• The author should have sufficient involvement in
  the research that he or she can defend the
  content of the publication when questions or
  criticisms are raised.

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Wrongness in authorship practice (according to
ICMJE)

• Gift authors
• Ghost authors
• Guest authors

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Problems of interpretation

• Defining significant
• Defining substantial
• Other considerations?

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Alternatives
Julie Graham
Katherine Gibson
AKA J.K. Gibson-Graham
2004 J.K. Gibson-Graham, Reluctant Subjects
Ethics and Emotions for a Post-capitalist
Politics. 2003 J.K. Gibson-Graham Enabling
ethical economies cooperativism and class
Critical Sociology 29(2) 123-61. 2000 J.K.
Gibson-Graham, S. Resnick and R. Wolff (eds)
Class and Its Others. Minneapolis University of
Minnesota Press. 1996 J. K. Gibson-Graham, The
End of Capitalism (As We Knew It) A Feminist
Critique of Political Economy. Oxford Bla
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Other resources

• The Ethics of Authorship Feature Overview--How
  Should Authorship Be Decided?
• http//sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_develo
  pment/previous_issues/articles/0910/the_ethics_of_
  authorship_feature_overview_how_should_authorship_
  be_decided

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Take home

• Discuss authorship expectations with your
  supervisor (and future collaborators) in advance