Quantification of Authors’ Contributions and Eligibility for Authorship: Randomized Study in a General Medical Journal

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Assessment of authorship contribution is often based on unreliable questionnaires.

OBJECTIVE

To assess if the use of different formats for the disclosure of authorship contributions influences authors’ compliance with the criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

DESIGN

Randomized study.

PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS

Eight hundred sixty-five authors of 181 manuscripts submitted to the Croatian Medical Journal from January to July 2005 were randomly allocated into 2 groups: 456 authors (94 manuscripts) received an ordinal rating form to rate their contributions to the submitted manuscript in 12 categories on a scale from 0 (none) to 4 (full), whereas 409 authors (87 manuscripts) received a binary rating form to tick the categories in which they made a contribution.

RESULTS

The ordinal rating form identified twice as many authors (87.9%) as meeting the ICMJE criteria than the binary rating form (39.2%, P < .001). The group answering the ordinal rating form also had 5 times more manuscripts (71.6%) with all authors meeting the ICMJE criteria than the binary rating form group (15.5%, P < .001). The fraction of authors who reported contributions on each item on the binary rating form was similar to the fraction of authors who reported at least moderate participation to the same items on the ordinal rating form except “Final approval of the article.”

CONCLUSIONS

Ordinal scales for reporting authors’ contributions to manuscripts were more sensitive than tick boxes for assessing the appropriateness of authorship. The exception is “Final approval of the article,” which should be considered a dichotomous variable and may not be appropriate for the ICMJE definition of authorship.

Appendices

Appendix 1. Ordinal rating form

CROATIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL: AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT FORM

Manuscript title:	Manuscript No.:
Name of the coauthor:	Byline position:

Dear Authors, please read carefully!

After receiving your manuscript for publication in the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ), we kindly ask you to fill out and sign a copy of this form.

Each coauthor should sign a separate copy.

The signature will evidence the mutual understanding between the CMJ and the undersigned author on the rights and responsibilities of both parties in the process of the manuscript evaluation and its possible publication in the CMJ.

1. Authorship and contributions to authorship

An “author” is considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. The CMJ requests from the authors of submitted manuscripts to provide information about the contributions of each person named as having participated in a submitted study.

If you have contributed directly to the intellectual content of this paper and have agreed to have your name listed as an author on the submitted version of the manuscript, please indicate your participation in each “Contribution Code” in the table below by checking 1 of the 5 the boxes. Any contribution not described by the contribution codes should be indicated in the space for “Other contributions” and marked accordingly.

	My participation in the contribution was (circle the best description of your participation):
Contribution Codes:	0 none	1 small	2 moderate	3 large	4 full
□ Analysis and interpretation of the data	0	1	2	3	4
□ Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content	0	1	2	3	4
□ Obtaining of funding	0	1	2	3	4
□ Provision of study materials or patients	0	1	2	3	4
□ Conception and design of the study	0	1	2	3	4
□ Drafting of the article	0	1	2	3	4
□ Administrative, technical, or logistic support	0	1	2	3	4
□ Acquisition of data	0	1	2	3	4
□ Final approval of the article	0	1	2	3	4
□ Statistical expertise	0	1	2	3	4
□ Guarantor of the study	0	1	2	3	4
□ Other (specify):	0	1	2	3	4

YOU MUST CIRCLE A NUMBER FOR EACH CONTRIBUTION!

Author’s signature_________________________________________Date:__________________

Author information:_________________________________________________________________

Institution and address:________________________________________

Phone number:_________________________________________________

Fax number:________________________________________________________________________________

E-mail address:___________________________________________________________

2. Copyright transfer

The listed authors warrant that they are the authors and sole owners of the submitted manuscript. The authors also warrant that the work is original; that it has not been previously published in print or electronic format and is not under consideration by another publisher or electronic medium; that it has not been previously transferred, assigned, or otherwise encumbered; and that the authors have full power to grant such rights. With respect to the results of this work, the manuscript of this or substantially similar content will not be submitted to any other journal until the review process in the CMJ has been officially completed (acceptance or rejection of the manuscript).

The paper will not be withdrawn from the review process by the CMJ Editorial Board until the review process is completed. The authors will comply with the requests of the CMJ Editors and reviewers to improve the paper for publication. The unavoidable disagreements will be submitted in a written form; the authors are aware that the disagreement(s) with the CMJ’s requests may result in the rejection of the manuscript. The authors hereby grant to the CMJ the right to edit, revise, abridge, and condense the manuscript.

If the manuscript is accepted for publication in the CMJ, the authors hereby transfer the copyright of the paper to the CMJ. The authors permit the CMJ to allow third parties to copy any part of the journal without asking for permission, provided that the reference to the source is given.

For papers with more than 1 author: I agree to allow the corresponding author to make decisions regarding prepublication release of information in the paper to the media, federal agencies, or both.

Author’s signature____________________________________Date:__________________________________

3. Financial disclosure

Please check the appropriate box(es) below:

• □ I certify that all financial and material support for this research and work are clearly identified in the manuscript

• □ I certify that all my affiliations with or financial involvement (e.g. employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, royalties) with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject or materials discussed in the manuscript are disclosed completely here:

________________________________________________________

• □ or are disclosed in attachment.

• □ I have no relevant financial interests in this manuscript.

Author’s signature________________________________________Date:______________________________

The corresponding author must sign the following statement:

All persons who have made substantial contributions to the preparation of the manuscript, but who are not authors, are named in the Acknowledgment section. No contributor has been omitted.

Corresponding author signature:______________________________________Date:__________________________________

4. Editorial research

We are keen to better understand and improve editorial conduct, decision making, and issues related to peer review. Therefore, we occasionally take part in or conduct editorial research and your submitted paper might be used in such research. If you do not want your paper entered into such a study please let us know in a separate letter. Your decision to take part or not will have no effect on the editorial decision on your paper.

Please sign and return to: CMJ, Zagreb University School of Medicine, Salata 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia (phone/fax: +385-1-4590222)

Appendix 2. Binary rating form

CROATIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL: AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT FORM

Manuscript title:	Manuscript No.:
Name of the coauthor:	Byline position:

Dear Authors, please read carefully!

After receiving your manuscript for publication in the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ), we kindly ask you to fill out and sign a copy of this form.

Each coauthor should sign a separate copy.

The signature will evidence the mutual understanding between the CMJ and the undersigned author on the rights and responsibilities of both parties in the process of the manuscript evaluation and its possible publication in the CMJ.

1. Authorship and contributions to authorship

An “author“ is considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published stud. The CMJ requests from the authors of submitted manuscripts to provide information about the contributions of each person named as having participated in a submitted study.

If you have contributed directly to the intellectual content of this paper and have agreed to have your name listed as an author on the submitted version of the manuscript, please mark those boxes that designate your own substantive contribution to the paper. Any contribution not described by the contribution codes should be indicated in the space for “Other contributions” and marked accordingly.

Mark the category to which you made a contribution

Contribution Codes:

□ Analysis and interpretation of the data

□ Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content

□ Obtaining of funding

□ Provision of study materials or patients

□ Conception and design of the study

□ Drafting of the article

□ Administrative, technical, or logistic support

□ Acquisition of data

□ Final approval of the article

□ Statistical expertise

□ Guarantor of the study

□ Other (specify):

Author’s signature________________________________________Date:______________________________

Author information:

Institution and address:__________________________________

Phone number:__________________________________________

Fax number:___________________________________________________________

E-mail address:_____________________________________________________________________

2. Copyright transfer

The listed authors warrant that they are the authors and sole owners of the submitted manuscript. The authors also warrant that the work is original; that it has not been previously published in print or electronic format and is not under consideration by another publisher or electronic medium; that it has not been previously transferred, assigned, or otherwise encumbered; and that the authors have full power to grant such rights. With respect to the results of this work, the manuscript of this or substantially similar content will not be submitted to any other journal until the review process in the CMJ has been officially completed (acceptance or rejection of the manuscript).

The paper will not be withdrawn from the review process by the CMJ Editorial Board until the review process is completed. The authors will comply with the requests of the CMJ Editors and reviewers to improve the paper for publication. The unavoidable disagreements will be submitted in a written form; the authors are aware that the disagreement(s) with the CMJ’s requests may result in the rejection of the manuscript. The authors hereby grant to the CMJ the right to edit, revise, abridge, and condense the manuscript.

If the manuscript is accepted for publication in the CMJ, the authors hereby transfer the copyright of the paper to the CMJ. The authors permit the CMJ to allow third parties to copy any part of the journal without asking for permission, provided that the reference to the source is given.

For papers with more than 1 author: I agree to allow the corresponding author to make decisions regarding prepublication release of information in the paper to the media, federal agencies, or both.

Author’s signature________________________________________________Date:___________________________________

3. Financial disclosure

Please check the appropriate box(es) below:

• □ I certify that all financial and material support for this research and work are clearly identified in the manuscript

• □ I certify that all my affiliations with or financial involvement (e.g. employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, royalties) with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject or materials discussed in the manuscript are disclosed completely here:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

□ or are disclosed in attachment.

□ I have no relevant financial interests in this manuscript.

Author’s signature______________________________________Date:___________________________________

The corresponding author must sign the following statement:

All persons who have made substantial contributions to the preparation of the manuscript, but who are not authors, are named in the Acknowledgment section. No contributor has been omitted.

Corresponding author’s signature______________________________________________Date:________________________________________

4. Editorial research

We are keen to better understand and improve editorial conduct, decision making, and issues related to peer review. Therefore, we occasionally take part in or conduct editorial research and your submitted paper might be used in such research. If you do not want your paper entered into such a study please let us know in a separate letter. Your decision to take part or not will have no effect on the editorial decision on your paper.

Please sign and return to: CMJ, Zagreb University School of Medicine, Salata 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia (phone/fax: +385-1-4590222)