Key Concepts in Academic Authorship

ICMJE Criteria for Authorship 🔗 ICMJE Recommendations

All these criteria must be met simultaneously to grant academic authorship. The absence of any of them, such as Accountability in the case of AI, makes authorship ineligible to be granted.

Substantial contributions

To the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data

Drafting the work

Or revising it critically for important intellectual content

Final approval

Of the version to be published

Accountability

For all aspects of the work, ensuring appropriate investigation of accuracy and integrity

Key concepts in academic authorship and their relationship to ICMJE criteria for integrity in scientific publications. The key authorship concepts are taken from 🔗 COPE
Concept	Description	Relationship to Academic Authorship
Honorary Authors Ethical Issues	Individuals included without significant contribution according to ICMJE criteria. Frequently senior figures added for political convenience.	Violates authorship criteria by including names that did not fulfill the 4 ICMJE requirements. Affects the integrity of scientific publication.
Ghost Authors Ethical Issues	Significant contributors omitted or professional writers not acknowledged. Violates transparency principles.	Omits authors who do meet ICMJE criteria. Can hide conflicts of interest and affect research credibility.
Group Authorship Ethical Issues	Use of group names. Indexing issues in databases like Medline.	Alternative for large collaborations. Requires listing individual contributors for transparency and accountability.
First Author Roles and Hierarchies	Generally who made the greatest contribution. Used in citations as 'Smith et al.'	Recognition of the principal contribution. Must meet all ICMJE criteria and have the greatest participation in the work.
Last Author Roles and Hierarchies	Frequently senior member with experience and guidance. Variable interpretation between disciplines.	Supervision and leadership role. Must meet ICMJE criteria especially in design, interpretation, and critical review.
Acknowledgments Processes	Valuable contributions that do not merit full authorship. Should specify the nature of the contribution.	Recognizes important contributions that do not meet all ICMJE criteria. Maintains transparency without inflating authorship.
Author Order ProcessesRoles and Hierarchies	Joint decision of co-authors. Should be made before beginning writing.	Reflects level of contribution and responsibility. Should be agreed transparently based on actual participation in the work.
Contribution Statement Technical Aspects	Specific description of what each author contributed. Information to verify ICMJE criteria.	Verification tool that ensures each author meets the 4 ICMJE criteria. Increases transparency and accountability.
Corresponding Author Technical Aspects	Handles editorial communication. Administrative role, not hierarchical.	Responsible for communication during review and publication. Does not imply greater scientific contribution than other authors.
Number of Authors Technical Aspects	No fixed rules. Modern databases list all authors.	Should reflect only people who meet ICMJE criteria. Quantity determined by real collaboration, not artificial agreements.
Guarantor Governance	Takes responsibility for the complete integrity of the work from conception to publication.	Maximum accountability role. Guarantees that all aspects of the work meet ethical and scientific standards.
Appeals Governance	Mechanism for authorship disputes. Editors reluctant to get involved in omissions.	Process to resolve conflicts over ICMJE criteria compliance. Protects integrity of the authorship system.

Managing Authorship Disputes 🔗 COPE

⚖️

Disputes (Interpretation)

Interpretation issues about whether a contribution was "substantial" or not

💬 Negotiate with the people involved

📋 Present evidence (lab notebooks, manuscripts, ICMJE criteria)

📈 Appeal to higher authorities only in exceptional cases

🔔 Inform supervisor about appeal intentions

🚨

Misconduct (Ethical violation)

Proposals that directly contravene ICMJE recommendations

📢 Explain that the proposed list contravenes editorial recommendations

📊 Remain factual and avoid emotional responses

⚠️ Point out risk of editorial rejection for misconduct

📝 Immediately document the meeting and archive notes

CRediT Taxonomy - Contribution Roles

Standardized system for describing specific contributions to scientific publications 🔗 credit.niso.org | 🔗 Spanish version - UBA

Conceptualization

Ideas, formulation of research goals and aims

Data curation

Management activities to annotate, scrub and maintain data

Formal analysis

Application of statistical, mathematical and computational techniques

Funding acquisition

Acquisition of the financial support for the project

Investigation

Conducting the research and investigation process

Methodology

Development or design of methodology; creation of models

Project administration

Management and coordination of research activity planning and execution

Resources

Provision of study materials, reagents, patients, etc.

Software

Programming, software development and computer programs

Supervision

Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research team

Validation

Verification of the overall replication/reproducibility of results

Visualization

Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work

Writing – original draft

Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work

Writing – review & editing

Preparation of the published work by the original research group