Authorship Guidance

On 10 February 2023, the NIH released Guide Notice NOT-OD-23-057 encouraging inclusion of the ARRIVE Essential 10. ARRIVE represents the basic minimum to include in any manuscript, particularly when animals are involved, to ensure readers and reviewers can assess the reliability of the reported findings.

In the spirit of the Catholic intellectual tradition that informs UIW’s mission, faculty and students support each other in the search for and communication of truth. UIW’s mission compels us to accept responsibility for the ethical communication of our scholarly inquiries in a manner that respects the dignity and rights of all participants who contribute to our shared intellectual journey. The following guidelines are offered to help authors be aware of their responsibilities with regard to the communication and publication of scholarly work.

Criteria for Authorship

As a general rule, criteria for authorship should be based on the accepted practice in the relevant discipline and the guidance of the specific publisher or journal.

The following criteria are provided for guidance:

Each individual listed as an author should have contributed substantially to the scholarly work. Examples of activities considered to be a substantial contribution may include the conception of the project, project design, experimental design, data collection, analysis, and/or interpretation.
An author should be able to articulate their contribution to the scholarly work and explain how it relates to the entire project.
Individuals who contribute solely to general supervision, funding, or collecting data generally do not sufficiently satisfy the criteria for authorship.

The following are examples of situations that are generally considered to be a breach of appropriate authorship:

Intentional exclusion of a person as an author

Intentionally excluding someone who has contributed to the work aligns with authorship criteria.

Coercive Authorship

Typically consists of a senior researcher forcing a junior researcher to include another individual that did not contribute to the work as an author.

Honorary authorship

Granting authorship to an individual who has not appropriately contributed to the work, out of appreciation or respect, or with the belief that the honored individual will increase the likelihood of publication, credibility, or status.

Gift authorship

Offering authorship as a credit or sense of obligation, tribute, or dependence with the belief of an anticipated benefit to an individual who has not appropriately contributed to work.

Ghost authorship

Failing to identify as an author someone who has made substantial contributions to the research or writing of a manuscript thus meriting authorship or allowing significant editorial control of a publication by an unnamed party, which may constitute a real or perceived conflict of interest that should be disclosed.

Acknowledgements

Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship, but have provided valuable contributions to the work, should be acknowledged for their contributing role. Examples of those that contribute may include staff, editorial assistants, technical assistance, or other individuals that provide valuable contributions to the writing, editing, data collection, or acquisition of funding.

In all scientific and scholarly publications and all manuscripts submitted for publication, funding sources should be acknowledged. This includes but is not limited to: Grants (internal and external), contracts, gift support and technical or other help if it is meaningful to the completion of the project.

Assigning Authorship

Discussion of authorship and order of authors should take place early in the development of the project, and be reviewed periodically.

The primary author should assure the following:

Each author meets the criteria for authorship, according to the relevant disciplinary standards and/or publisher’s criteria.
Each author has reviewed the entire scholarly work.
Each author has consented to authorship prior to submission of the work for publication or presentation.

Authors should attempt to resolve authorship disputes themselves. If disputes cannot be settled they should be referred to a third party (such as a department chair or Dean) for resolution.