Gliniak Lab Policy on Authorship
rev. January 5, 2024
Purpose
Authorship confers credit for scientific accomplishments and has important academic, social, and financial implications. It also implies responsibility and accountability for published work.
Definition
Anyone that makes a significant intellectual contribution to the work reported in a manuscript will be listed as an author, if they choose to. If you created a final figure that will be included in the paper, that counts. Please keep track of all summer or rotation student contributions.
All authors must read the manuscript completely and meet the following criteria.
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data
- Drafting or reviewing the work that was critically for important intellectual content.
- Final approval of the version to be published must be given in writing (email)
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Non-author Contributors
Contributors who meet fewer than all four of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. People contribute their time in a way that facilitates appropriate cooperation within a research group, but may not qualify for authorship. Please obtain written permission to be acknowledged from all listed individuals.
- Chat-GPT or AI are not authors
- training colleagues
- acquisition of funding
- general supervision of a research group
- general administrative support, writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading
- Provision of a previously described reagent or instruction in an assay or protocol does not constitute a contribution adequate to merit authorship, although such contributions will be acknowledged.
- Graphing software or statistical websites, or Biorender.com should be cited from the methods section
- List all Cores and the required text noted by the Core facility.
Share your publication with the Core Facility that is referenced.
This is important for the funding of Core grants and progress reports for NIH and other funding.
Authorship Order
Ordering of authors’ names is imprecise and but I will every effort to make authorship clear from the start. In general, the first author is the one who led or contributed most significantly to the work. I will generally be the last listed author, unless there are special situations with senior postdocs.
The first-author of a manuscript is expected to write up the manuscript. Preparation of manuscripts and rebuttals are an important part of training in science. When I have not contributed significantly to a work to be published, I will not be listed as an author. Acknowledgment of support from my grants, if it has occurred, is required.
The first-author should help contribute to the authorship listing and acknowledgements. If the first-author believes a person should be not included as an author, please let me know.
No one may publicly disclose data or conclusions achieved by another member of the group without that person’s and my agreement.
Co-authorship
Shared co-first authorship is becoming more common. Some of our studies can take over 5 years to complete and is almost impossible for one person to finish completely. Consideration for each lab member or collaborators contributions should be discussed throughout the project. When someone new is asked to contribute significantly enough to be a co-first, such as taking over the rest of a project when someone leaves, it is possible that they will be listed first and a co-first and the previous member. This is especially true if there are significant revision experiments and preparation of the rebuttal, that cannot be completed after leaving the lab.
When in doubt, please ask. If any disagreement persists, I will make the final decision on authorship in the context of UT-Southwestern rules.