Question
What are valid criteria for authorship on scientific papers?
You are a student who has been invited to participate in a research project.

1. What determines whether what you plan to do is sufficient to justify authorship on the paper that may result from the project?
2. What resources might you use to enlighten yourself on whether your contribution justifies authorship?

Suggestions

• Here's a possible starting point:
  Sheikh A (2000). Publication ethics and the research assessment exercise: reflections on the troubled question of authorship. Journal of Medical Ethics 26:422-426.
• Investigate what journals have to say on the matter. To do this, locate some journals on-line and look at their Instructions to Authors. How much variation is there?
  Example: Journal of Bacteriology
  Example: Journal of the American Medical Association
• Go to any recent issue of JAMA and click on any multiauthor original contribution. Scroll down to the end of the article to view which author did what.
• Survey scientific literature for articles on authorship.
  Try:
  
  • PubMed: Go to NCBI, click on PubMed
    
  • Web of Science: Go to VCU Library, click on W, then Web of Science
• Many articles you find will be on line or in the library... read a couple!
• Surf the web (but beware!)

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