How the names of authors must appear in a paper?
M.A. Jalali | جمعه, ۱۵ شهریور ۱۳۸۷
First of all, I apologize for writing in English, because my Linux machine has not Persian fonts yet.
I sometimes hear from my students that their teachers/professors/supervisors force them to put the student's name at the bottom of the list of authors of a paper, which has been prepared mainly by the student. This is an illegal and unethical action:
1. The author/co-author of a paper is a person who has significant contributions to the paper. Proposing the main idea of a research does not imply that the name of the proposer (whoever s/he may be) must appear as an author. Such a person must be acknowledged in the closing section of the paper.
2. If a student has done all calculations of a paper, and s/he has written the text, and if the text has gone little revision/editorial work, s/he can publish his/her results alone (single author).
3. A professor's name should appear in a paper only if s/he has done some parts of the calculations/research-work and has written the part of the paper that is related to her/his own contribution.
4. Some journals sort the names of authors alphabetically. Otherwise, the least a person has contributed to a paper, the lowest place his/her name appears in the list. A supervisor has no right to put his name as the first author unless s/he has done the major part of that work (calculations+simulations+writing).
5. Providing the research grant (even if this is done by the supervisor) should only be acknowledged at the end of the paper: bringing a grant does not imply authorship.
6. Putting the name of an honorary author is not ethical. This is unfortunately a common behavior in our university so that a professor puts the name of an administrator in his paper just to honor him. This is unethical and has angered our students.
Please be careful that our actions are judged by students. They are neither slaves nor our work-force. They are the next generation of a society that we all live in. They behave as they are trained. So, put them on a track.
Note: The comments posted by readers include more useful criteria.
I sometimes hear from my students that their teachers/professors/supervisors force them to put the student's name at the bottom of the list of authors of a paper, which has been prepared mainly by the student. This is an illegal and unethical action:
1. The author/co-author of a paper is a person who has significant contributions to the paper. Proposing the main idea of a research does not imply that the name of the proposer (whoever s/he may be) must appear as an author. Such a person must be acknowledged in the closing section of the paper.
2. If a student has done all calculations of a paper, and s/he has written the text, and if the text has gone little revision/editorial work, s/he can publish his/her results alone (single author).
3. A professor's name should appear in a paper only if s/he has done some parts of the calculations/research-work and has written the part of the paper that is related to her/his own contribution.
4. Some journals sort the names of authors alphabetically. Otherwise, the least a person has contributed to a paper, the lowest place his/her name appears in the list. A supervisor has no right to put his name as the first author unless s/he has done the major part of that work (calculations+simulations+writing).
5. Providing the research grant (even if this is done by the supervisor) should only be acknowledged at the end of the paper: bringing a grant does not imply authorship.
6. Putting the name of an honorary author is not ethical. This is unfortunately a common behavior in our university so that a professor puts the name of an administrator in his paper just to honor him. This is unethical and has angered our students.
Please be careful that our actions are judged by students. They are neither slaves nor our work-force. They are the next generation of a society that we all live in. They behave as they are trained. So, put them on a track.
Note: The comments posted by readers include more useful criteria.
