Introduction
Modern publishing, particularly in the academic landscape, requires submission of high-quality papers that recognizes the different scholars who have made their contributions. Quality publications are critical in shaping the career path of an author, and it is, therefore, essential that they are given due credit for their contributions. Research studies entail contributions of different people, each playing a significant role in the overall success of the publication. In most academic areas such as medicine and social sciences, there are guidelines to be followed when recognizing authors and contributors to a paper. Adopting the principles of openness at every stage of study development helps promote collaboration, integrity, and reproducibility in the research work. Acknowledging all the authors and contributors assists in boosting the credibility of the publication. Failure to give credit to the contributors can lead to disputes that would have been avoided if the appropriate measures were taken. Social science researchers should follow guidelines on authorship and contributions to enhance the credibility of their studies and to prevent possible disputes that may arise.
Question 1
Authors and contributors have a significant role to play in the development of research papers in social sciences. The authors’ responsibility is to formulate a study and follow the laid-out procedures in conducting research. Authors may work in collaboration to enhance the quality of the final report whereby roles are divided in accordance to the competencies. Each person will ensure that the part allocated is accomplished within the stipulated time frame and that all the regulations are adhered to. The role of contributors on the other hand is to help the smooth delivery of the report by assisting the authors in different areas. Contributors may be involved in areas such as compiling reports from various authors, typing, and editing.
The issue of authorship in social science reports and other academic publications should be considered when conducting studies. It also helps scholars to build a reputation both in the field and amongst their peers. In addition, authorship is used as the basis through which scholars are evaluated with those with more publications being highly regarded as compared to the ones with few or no publications. Evaluation of scholars for purposes of employment and promotion is also pegged on the publications that they have made. Authorship is critical for career mobility of scholars as it enables them to be visible in the academic and employment world. In a few cases, scholarly works are done by one researcher, and so they do not present any authorship disputes. In most cases, however, authors collaborate to come up with a publication resulting in authorship issues. The principle of fairness and adherence to laid out regulations of crediting authors should be employed.
Question 2
The definition of who is an author can, at times, lead to the controversy that eventually causes authorship disputes. In the context of the report, an author is defined as a person who has contributed to the development of the research. The contribution can be significant such as authoring an entire manuscript or minor such as developing a research hypothesis. It should be noted that writing the final report is not a criterion for one to be considered an author. For such a person to be included in the list of authors, they must have participated in at least one of the research phases. According to the Authorship and Contribution Policy, any person who meets the following criteria will be considered an author.
- Comes up with a research concept irrespective of whether they actively took part in the study, develops research design even if they did not implement it, takes part in analyzing data or interpreting the results thereof, and actively takes part in data collection for the study.
- Approves the final version of the work for publishing.
- Drafts the work or makes critical revisions to enhance the intellectual content.
- Agrees to take accountability for any part of the work by ensuring that concerns relating to integrity and accuracy of the study are adequately investigated and resolved.
In the case of an institutional setting, the same criterion for determining authors and contributors will be applied. The issue that will need to be addressed is that of ownership of the work. According to the policy, the people who contributed to the creation of the research will undeniably be the authors. The institution that has contracted the researchers to conduct the study will own the work and enjoy all its associated rights. Any person who wishes to replicate such work must seek authorization from the institution and not the authors.
The responsibility of determining who will be enlisted as an author rests with the researchers, and they should evaluate amongst themselves to determine who meets the set criteria for authorship. The determination of authors should take place in the initial stages of research development when roles are distributed to different researchers. However, the plan should be flexible to allow the insertion of additional authors in the course of conducting the study if the need arises. If a dispute relating to authorship occurs, it will be the responsibility of all the authors to come up with a solution. In resolving such dispute, reference should be made to the guidelines that stipulate the criteria for authorship.
Question 3
Any person who has made a contribution to the study but does not meet the identified criterion for authorship will be considered a non-author contributor. Meeting the first criterion automatically qualifies one to be eligible for all the remaining roles irrespective of whether they got the opportunity or not. The non-author contributors will be placed in the acknowledgement section of the research with their name and the specific contribution. Before the contributors can be acknowledged, written permission will first be sought from them as mentioning them in the report may act as a form of endorsement, making their authorization necessary. Contributions that are not directly related to the study, such as encouragement from family members and friends, will not be acknowledged. Peer reviewers and anonymous editors shall not be recognized as a way of eliminating bias and ensuring that the list is manageable since it is impractical to mention every person who contributed to the study. Therefore, the acknowledgement section will be limited to only those who actively took part in the research and its presentation. The following activities will not make one eligible for authorship.
- Acquisition of funding for the study.
- General supervision of the study group or the provision of administrative support.
- Offering services such as writing, proofreading technical and language editing.
Question 4
The ordering of authors in a research study has been a leading cause of controversy with different criterion used when listing their names. It is a preference amongst authors to have their name appearing first in the list since there is a tendency for people to associate research work based on the first author. The author whose name appears first gets more credit as compared to the others irrespective of their contribution made in the research. They will therefore be more popular as compared to their counterparts and they will reap the benefits that are associated with authorship. Some of the methods that are used in ordering the names include random technique, contribution based and alphabetical. The recommendation would be for all the authors to come together and reach a consensus on the method that they will use when listing their names. In the absence of such agreement, the document recommends that the names be listed using the contributory method whereby the author who makes the most contribution gets their name appearing first with the one with the least being last. By adopting either of these methods, fairness will be enhanced.
Question 5
After subjecting the report to a plagiarism check, there may be a need to carry out further editing. At this stage of research development, the responsibility of editing lies on the authors and contributors depending on the areas that require editing. For authors, each person will be responsible for editing the part they authored, especially when such changes relate to the content. If the changes are related to technical issues such as language and proofreading, the editing will be left to the contributors who had been assigned the role. To eliminate possible conflicts in future relating the issue of editing, all the authors and contributors must commit themselves in writing that they will take full responsibility of their parts until the report is accepted.
Conclusion
In social sciences, just as is the case in other fields of study, authors and contributors plays an important role in the advancement of knowledge through research. Study reports play a significant role in boosting the career of authors both in the academic and employment fields. As such, it is critical that every person who has taken part in authoring a document should be named as its author so that they can benefit from their work. When it comes to institutional authorship, authors should understand that they are contracted to generate content. In that case, they only retain authorship, while ownership of the report is by the institution. Clear guidelines should be put in place to assist in differentiating between an author and a contributor and how they should be acknowledged in the final report. The issue of ordering the authors in the document raises a lot of conflict due to the advantages that are associated with it. The criteria to be used should be decided during the initial stages of the study to eliminate possible conflict that may occur in the future. One of the best approaches to resolving the problem of ordering the names is using the authors’ contribution, where those who contribute more are listed first. The question of editing the report should be addressed in advance to ensure that any changes that may need to be made in the document are addressed. The authors should be ready to make changes to the sections that they contributed, and they should know that it is their responsibility to amend the document when the need arises.