Estabilshing Fair Authorship Criteria in Academic Publishing

Academic journals use a variety of criteria and processes to determine appropriate authorship for submitted work, primarily focusing on the substantial contribution of individuals to the research and manuscript preparation.

A widely referenced standard for authorship criteria is provided by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). According to this guidance, authorship credit should be based on three conditions, all of which must be met:

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Final approval of the version to be published.

The ICMJE guidance explicitly states that the acquisition of funding, the collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, by themselves, do not justify authorship. Journals should adopt and promote an authorship policy that is appropriate to their field of research.

To ensure these criteria are applied, academic journals should:

Establish and Publish Clear Policies: Journals must have clear policies on authorship and contributorship that are visible on their website and adhere to COPE's Core Practices. These guidelines should clearly state what is expected of authors. Policies should define what constitutes authorship and the responsibilities of authors and the corresponding author.
Require Disclosure of Contributions: Authors should be required to declare how author contributions should be listed on submission and in the final publication. Some journals might require statements of each individual's contribution. The ICMJE guidelines now recommend that authors provide a description of what each person contributed, and editors should publish this information. Journals can also use checklists in their submission systems to ensure authors provide all required information, such as authorship declarations.
Acknowledge Non-Authors: Policies should specify how non-authors who contributed to the work should be acknowledged. Most journals permit or encourage acknowledging individuals who contributed but do not meet the authorship criteria.
Require Authorship Declarations: Some journals may require all authors to sign an authorship declaration.
Include All Authors in Communications: Journals might consider including all authors in communications, not just the corresponding author.
Provide Guidance on Authorship Criteria: The specific authorship criteria should be clearly specified in the journal's Instructions to Authors.
Implement Pre-publication Checks: As part of the technical pre-check, editorial offices should verify authorship consistency and contributions.
Manage Authorship Disputes: Journals generally cannot adjudicate authorship disputes themselves. They typically rely on institutions to arbitrate these matters. If an authorship dispute arises after publication and there is no doubt about the validity of the findings, retraction is not appropriate; a correction can be published instead. Journals should inform institutions if misconduct by their researchers is suspected, including authorship misattribution.
Instruct Peer Reviewers: Peer reviewers should be asked to address ethical aspects of the submission, which can indirectly help identify authorship issues, although the sources don't explicitly state reviewers determine authorship.

By implementing these measures, academic journals can promote appropriate authorship attribution and discourage questionable practices such as guest or ghost authorship.