Australian scientist launches authorship management system

A Brisbane-based researcher has launched an effective authorship management system that promises to reduce conflict for researchers during their careers.

Before speaking about the system at the Australasian Research Management Society Conference in New Zealand, Dr Suzanne Morris from the the Cooperative Research Centre for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology (CRC SIIB) at the University of Queensland, St Lucia, said: “Universities and research organisations across the world generally lack appropriate policies and procedures for managing authorship in collaborative research projects”.

“In fact, I am not aware of any university that provides specific training for staff and students on authorship management in research collaborations.”

“Determining who should be listed as an author on a publication, and what order they should be listed, can be problematic. The result for staff and students who encounter authorship issues may be unwillingness to collaborate or publish in the future, or (in the extreme) withdrawal from their postgraduate degrees,” stated Morris.

“It remains to be seen whether the Excellence in Research Australia initiative will exacerbate authorship issues amongst researchers.”

Morris states that an ideal authorship management system would incorporate the internationally recognised Vancouver Protocol (for establishing authorship) in conjunction with authorder (for establishing author order). The system would be supported by appropriate policies, along with assistance and training for all researchers within an organisation.

Authorder, which was developed by Morris and A/Prof Christine Beveridge, also working within the CRC SIIB, draws on the principles of multi-criterion decision making and is an approach that enables researchers to determine author order on their publications in a rational and fully accountable manner.

Authorder is available to researchers both here and overseas in an easy-to-use format that can be freely downloaded: www.authorder.com.

Morris said many researchers had expressed an interest in authorder since it was first presented in 2005.

“Authorder has been applauded by researchers both here and overseas as something that is well overdue.”