Authorship in research
Authorship is related to the actual contribution someone makes to a scholarly publication. Authorship is an important (co-)factor for the academic impact and reputation of individual researchers, their career perspectives, success rates in applying for funding, etc., as well as for the affiliated university.. Therefore, it is important that all valuable contributions are visible and verifiable. Various stakeholders in science (research institutions, faculties, funders, publishers, journals, etc.) have developed standards to regulate this aspect of scholarly publishing.
Ghent University policy
Ghent University has set out a policy on authorship and the recognition of contributions in scholarly publishing. This policy describes the standard that should be met by all researchers, as a minimum standard.
To be recognized as an author, you must meet at least the following conditions:
- Researchers who contribute significantly to the creation of the publication are added to the authors list. "[…] authorship itself is based on a significant contribution to the design of the research, relevant data collection, or the analysis or interpretation of the results.” (European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity)
- In addition researchers contribute to the writing or substantial revision of the work.
- They approve the work and the agreement before submitting it for publication.
For more information and conditions, read the full ‘Policy on Authorship and recognition of contributions to scholarly publishing’.
It can be used for the assessment of daily research practices. Implementing this Authorship Policy is a shared responsibility of the university and its research community.
For general advice and support on authorship, researchers can contact the faculty contact points for research integrity, the policy advisor for research integrity or the secretariat of the Commission for Research Integrity. The latter also offers support in dealing with conflicts.
More on authorship in these research tips