Below are the tips author suggests.
- Make sure that you choose collaborators with whom you can work well.
- Discuss authorship early, and keep doing so often as a project evolves. Put it in writing.
- When there are disputes, first try to talk it out amicably and understand the other person’s point of view. For example, try to work out how the idea first came about.
- If you must approach your supervisor about an authorship decision that you don’t like, keep the tone inquisitive, not accusatory. Explain that you want to understand how authorship was decided.
- If a contributor’s authorship is in question, it can help to consider what the paper would have looked like without their efforts, and whether someone else could have made the same contribution.
- Familiarize yourself with your institution’s or journal’s authorship guidelines, or those of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Use them to back up your case.
- Be prepared to compromise or share credit.
- If you can’t agree among yourselves, engage a supervisor, trusted colleagues or an ombudsman to investigate the matter and make a recommendation.
