Recently, the number of scientific articles in co-authorship has been growing rapidly, this trend includes the materials published in the publications of the databases Scopus and Web of Science. Such tendencies are explained by the large number of advantages that motivate scientists to work in a team: the distribution of financial costs among all authors, the processing of more information and, as a result, the writing of high-quality work. But how are the roles of co-authors distributed?
Broadly defined, there are two types of co-authorship: inseparable, where the contribution of each author cannot be precisely defined, and separate – the roles in the research team are clearly distinguished. Today the co-authored publication is displayed in the profile of the author of all the team members, often it is read equally for each of the co-authors.
However, some publishing houses require an application to contribute to the study, which specifies the role of each team member.
How are the roles defined in the research team?
Each scientific team must have a corresponding author, first author and other co-authors, as well as assistants, if they participated in the study. Consider in more detail the functional responsibilities of each.
The corresponding author or responsible author is responsible for communication with the editorial staff regarding all publication issues. This author often already has the experience of publishing scientific work and communicating with representatives of scientific journals. The corresponding author also has the responsibility of preparing the necessary documentation, for example, information about the authors, a conflict of interest statement, approval of the Ethics Commission and etc.
The corresponding author should monitor:
- Compliance with all necessary publication deadlines.
- Correctness of the documentation.
- The quality of the research and its readiness.
- Filling out information about all authors of the work.
- Compliance with the ethical norms of the publication process.
The first author is a participant of the study, who made the greatest contribution to the work. Also, in a small research team, the first author and corresponding author may coincide.
The authors of the study (co-authors) are team members who have made a significant contribution to the study. The main responsibilities of the authors include: preparation of the study, its conduct, formation of the concept of design, analysis of the results, their interpretation, critical revision. Participants of the work should collectively agree on all variants of the study and take part in the discussion regarding the selection of the journal. The research is the responsibility of all the authors.
Assistants are specialists who were involved in the research and who help the team of authors on scientific, methodical and technical issues. Normally, assistants do not make a tangible contribution to research, but if their role was significant, they may be listed as co-authors. Information about assistants is given in the «Gratitude» section with an explanation of the role of each participant. Research information should include sources of funding of the assistants involved.
Taxonomy of authors' roles by CrediT
The international scientific community is increasingly focusing on co-authorship issues and how each scientist’s contribution to research is measured and assessed. Scientists often use the Taxonomy of participants' roles by CrediT to apply for contributions to research.
Taxonomy of participants' roles by CrediT was developed in 2012 under the guidance of Harvard University, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and publishers, including Elsevier. It defines a wide range of roles in the research team:
◈ Conceptualization – formulation of the idea and purposes of the study.
◈ Methodology compilation – development of methodology or individual methods.
◈ Building software – creation and design of algorithms of computer programs, software.
◈ Verification – verification of the results of the research or part thereof.
◈ Formal analysis – application of statistical, mathematical, computational methods.
◈ Research practice – experimentation and information gathering.
◈ Resource allocation – allocation of materials, resources, laboratory specimens for the research.
◈ Metadata management – implementation of metadata management activities.
◈ Writing the original draft – preparing, creating and presenting the initial version of the study.
◈ Commenting and editing – a critical review of the initial version of the study, writing comments and editing.
◈ Generating of visualization – generating of visual part and presentation of research.
◈ Guide – supervision of research activities.
◈ Administration – coordination and planning of research.
◈ Financing – attracting financial support for the work.
When executing of application for a contribution to the study, the corresponding author takes responsibility for its correctness and agrees with each participant of the study. In this case, one member of the team can perform several research roles at once, and one role can be shared among several co-authors.
Also, criteria for determining roles in a research team can be prescribed by the rules of a particular publishing house.
If you have difficulties with the publication of co-authored scientific article, the specialists of the company Scientific Publications will be happy to provide the expert consultation, provide evaluation of the study, make necessary adjustments, professional translation and editing of the work. As a result, you will receive a high-quality scientific work published and indexed in the Scopus database and the Web of Science.
Earlier our website released a material «Publons as an integrated profile of a scientist. The main possibilities of adding scientific materials»
