The outcomes of research may be disseminated in a variety of ways but enduring forms,
such as journal articles, are particularly important and to be an author for such a form is
meritorious. To be named as an author, a researcher must have made a substantial scholarly
contribution to the work and be able to take responsibility for at least that part of the work
they contributed.

Attribution of authorship depends to some extent on the discipline, but in all cases,
authorship must be based on substantial contributions in a combination of:

• conception and design of the project
• analysis and interpretation of research data
• drafting significant parts of the work or critically revising it so as to contribute to the
  interpretation

The right to authorship is not tied to position or profession and does not depend on whether
the contribution was paid for or voluntary. It is not enough to have provided materials or
routine technical support, or to have made the measurements on which the publication is
based. Substantial intellectual involvement is required.

A person who qualifies as an author must not be included or excluded as an author
without their permission. This should be in writing, and include a brief description of their
contribution to the work.

Sometimes the editor of a significant collective work or anthology has responsibilities
analogous to those listed above for authorship and, in such cases, similar criteria apply to
‘editor’ as to ‘author’. However, the term ‘editor’ should be applied only to a person who has
played a significant role in the intellectual shaping of a publication.

Responsibilities of Institutions

Have criteria for authorship
Institutions must have a policy on the criteria for authorship consistent with this Code,
seeking to minimise disputes about authorship and helping to resolve them if they arise.
Where a work has several authors, one should be appointed executive author to record
authorship and to manage communication about the work with the publisher.

Responsibilities of Researchers

Follow policies on authorship
Researchers should adhere to the authorship criteria of this Code and their institution’s
policies.

Agree on authorship
Collaborating researchers should agree on authorship of a publication at an early stage
in the research project and should review their decisions periodically.

Include all authors
Researchers must offer authorship to all people, including research trainees, who meet
the criteria for authorship listed above. Those offered authorship must accept or decline
in writing.

Do not allow unacceptable inclusions of authorship
Authorship should not be offered to those who do not meet the requirements set out
above. For example, none of the following contributions, in and of themselves, justifies
including a person as an author:

• being head of department, holding other positions of authority, or personal friendship
  with the authors
• providing a technical contribution but no other intellectual input to the project
  or publication
• providing routine assistance in some aspects of the project, the acquisition of funding
  or general supervision of the research team
• providing data that has already been published or materials obtained from third
  parties, but with no other intellectual input

Acknowledge other contributions fairly
Researchers must ensure that all those who have contributed to the research, facilities
or materials are properly acknowledged, such as research assistants and technical
writers. Where individuals are to be named, their written consent must be obtained.

Extend the authorship policy to web-based publications
Authors of web-based publications must be able to take responsibility for the
publication’s content and must be clearly identified in the publication.

Maintain signed acknowledgments of authorship for all publications
The department of the executive or senior author must retain the written acknowledgment
of authorship discussed above in the form of an original hand-written signature. Where
it is not practical to obtain an original signature, it is acceptable to use faxed or emailed
consent. This also applies to published conference abstracts and similar publications.
If an author is deceased or cannot be contacted, the publication can proceed provided
that there are no grounds to believe that this person would have objected to being
included as an author.

Source of information: Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2007)