Authorship

Authorship assigns named credit and accountability for a publication. The parts divide by the decisions and responsibilities involved: qualification, managing the author list during the work, byline order, patient and caregiver participation, and enforcement. Professional writers’ credit and ghostwriting, funding and interest disclosures, accuracy of reporting, plagiarism, and the bodies and codes that set publication standards belong to neighbouring concerns.

• Deciding who qualifies as an author — criteria and accountability, venue rules, acknowledging other contributors, honorary and ghost authorship, writers’ eligibility, and recording contributions
• Settling authorship while the work runs — agreeing rules before work begins, leading discussions, tracking contributions, applying frameworks for complex trials, and changing the author list
• Settling the order of authors — first, last and corresponding authors, positions between them, and ordering equal contributors
• Patient and caregiver authorship — patients’ contributions and eligibility, identifying their role while protecting privacy, and inviting, training and supporting them
• Enforcing authorship standards — journal requirements, institutional responses and disputes, authorship warranties, and proposed legal liability for false authorship claims