Co-authorship
Reasons to co-author a paper
The publishing establishment depends upon the reputation and history of the author as one element when deciding whether to publish a manuscript. As a result it can be difficult for junior faculty members to break into the publishing world at the beginning of their career. One way to begin establishing a reputation is to affiliate with established faculty members and collaborate on work that is likely to be published. The ultimate example of this is the dissertation advisor, but once in an academic position of your own, a new faculty member needs to find other collaborators to begin establishing themselves as key contributors to the published dialogue.
Reasons not to co-author a paper
The academic world is full of scenarios of improperly cited publications in both directions. As a result there have been attempts by a number of organizations to establish guidelines to ensure fair authorship attribution, and clear expectations for responsibilities in the writing of a paper. Think carefully about who to publish with, and outline clear plans for who will do what and how any citations will read, in writing, before beginning a project.
Weigh the pros and cons
As a new faculty member it will be necessary to determine whether the benefits of co-authoring are worth the challenges. As your reputation increases, and you are working with junior faculty members and graduate students yourself, it will be up to you to decide how to handle such situations in a fair and equitable way.
Guidelines for Co-authorship
What is Authorship and What Should it Be? A Survey of Prominent Guidelines for Determining Authorship in Scientific Publications
Osborne, J. & Holland, A. (July, 2009). Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, Vol. 14, No. 15
This article asserts that co-authorship is a relatively new phenomenon in scientific writing, and that there are ethical and procedural issues involved.
CRN Co-authoring Principles
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology
This organization has established an agreement to clarify rights, responsibilities, and expectations of two or more people working together to write a paper for the CRN.
Who Gets Credit?
News, Inside Higher Ed (July 20, 2007)
In this article the issue of ordering of authors is explored in the physical and biological sciences.
Copyright Ownership: The Joint Authorship Doctrine
Rich, L. (1995). The Publishing Law Center
This site addresses some of the copyright issues with co-authorship of copyrighted materials.
Pros of Co-authorship
Publishing, Co-authoring, and New Media in the Professoriate
Press Release (December 2, 2009). PR Log
In this press release it is asserted that coauthoring is a way to publish that encourages an exchange of ideas within a specialty, and acknowledges that it can be a challenge to find the right co-authors.
My Case for Co-authoring
Block, W., Endowed Chair & Professor of Economics, COBA, Loyola University of New Orleans
This article makes the case for the benefits of co-authorship.
Co-authorships in Academia
Eszter’s Blog (2004)
This blog ponders the pros and cons of co-authoring during one’s junior faculty years.
Challenges of Co-authorship
The co-Authorship Controversy
Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Research (OEC)
This site offers cases and scenarios of co-authorship, with a discussion forum, teaching tools and ethics codes links.
Co-authoring, What Every Department Should Know
Anderson, L. L. & Lord, G., Profession, Vol. 12, p. 202-213
This article, cited on the Modern Language Association site, outlines some of the challenges facing collaborative researchers who co-author.
Possible Co-author
Case Study, RCR Administrators
This site offers a case of possibly unethical authorship for discussion.
