Question

Discuss what stage in the publication process should potential authors talk about publication credit. Explain.

Describe how the sections of a poster, for presentation, are organized.

Answer 1

• The article presents hypothetical cases that describe relevant ethical issues, highlights ethical principles that could provide assistance in addressing these dilemmas, and makes recommendations to faculty who collaborate with students on scholarly projects.
• It is proposed that authorship credit and order decisions should be based on the relative scholarly abilities and professional contributions of the collaborators.
• It is recommended that both faculty and students participate in the authorship decision-making process early in the collaborative endeavor.
• Scholarly activity is an expected and rewarded enterprise for many professionals (Keith-Spiegel & Koocher, 1985). In academic settings, decisions regarding promotion, tenure, and salary are heavily influenced not only by the number of publications in peer-reviewed journals but also by the number of first-authored publications (Costa & Gatz, 1992). Similarly, in applied settings, professionals with strong publication records are often considered to have more competence and expertise than their less published counterparts.
• Clearly, authorship credit and authorship order are not trivial matters. Because of the importance of authorship credit, dilemmas may arise when more than one person is involved in a scholarly project. In this article, we specifically address collaborative efforts between faculty and undergraduate or graduate students. The importance of authorship in the faculty–student research context was underscored by Goodyear, Crego, and Johnston (1992), who found that authorship issues were among the "critical incidents" identified by experienced researchers in faculty–student research collaborations. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussions regarding the determination of authorship credit and order of authorship—in the faculty–student research context.
• There are six parts to the article. To provide a context for the discussions, the first part presents four hypothetical cases. Because the final authorship decisions in these cases are based on considerations reviewed later in the article, the cases end before the final decisions were determined.
• The second part reviews available guidelines for determining authorship credit and order.
• The third part describes ethical issues related to authorship credit and authorship order when faculty and students collaborate.
• The fourth part of the article highlights several ethical principles that may provide assistance in resolving authorship dilemmas.
• The fifth part provides tentative recommendations for faculty who collaborate with students on scholarly projects. The final part revisits the four hypothetical cases with our opinions regarding what authorship decisions would have been appropriate.