Edit Rx Blog!

The Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals are very clear about who should and should not be a manuscript author.

Here are their criteria:

"Authorship credit should be based on
1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3."
_________________________________________________________________________________

As tempting as it may be to include everyone who assisted with data entry and subject recruitment in authorship, if they haven't also assisted with the design, analysis, or writing, then you are not doing yourself (or them) any favors by including them.

Also, after about the fourth author? The journal editors are going to become suspicious of the contributions of the additional authors.

Many people ask me about what they should do if they have worked with a graduate student (Grad Student A) on research, after the graduate student leaves. If the graduate student has been working on research in a collaborative manner and states an intent to continue trying to publish the results of that research after leaving, then courtesy dictates that you should let them.

However, if your graduate student (Grad Student B) leaves research without a vested interest in continuing it, then you should absolutely take the initiative to write it up and publish it. As the graduate student to review the article and offer second authorship, but don't leave it to the disinterested graduate student to complete the work. It's in nobody's interest for the data to sit and rust.

The same is true of Graduate Student A: If, after a year has passed, you have had no news or word that anything is happening with the data, feel free to write it up, offer second authorship, and have them take a look at it. But don't let it just sit, when you have worked on it too.