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Authorship

The contract researcher forum supports the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) recommendations on authors and contributors. As the ICMJE state, authorship conveys credit and has important academic and other implications. These are particularly relevant for early career researchers. Contributors who have made substantive intellectual contributions to a paper should be given credit as authors, and contributors credited as authors should understand their role in taking responsibility for what is published. Specifically, we support the recommendation that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Contributors who meet fewer than all four of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. More information on the ICMJE recommendations can be found here.