A presentation on "Authorship and Author Rank – Misuses, Misunderstandings and a Meaningful Solution” will be delivered by Prof. T. Prabhakar Clement from Auburn University, USA on 17 October 2014 from 15:00-16:00 at the Milton E. Bender Jr. Auditorium.
Abstract:
Who should be recognized as a co-author of a multi-author scientific article? Surprisingly, scientists and engineers who have solved several challenging problems have not fully answered this seemingly simple question. This is because authorship questions involve issues related to human emotions that are difficult to quantify. Therefore, authorship decisions are typically made using arbitrary procedures that allow many to get credit without anyone assuming the responsibility for the work. This is especially true in applied physical sciences and engineering fields where there have been little discussion about authorship responsibilities. Medical and biomedical fields have had multiple debates on this topic that have led to the development of formal authorship guidelines. In this talk, I will review some of these guidelines and will make a case for a paradigm shift and explain why we should view authorship in terms of “responsibilities” instead of “credits.” I will then present a framework that can be used to conceptually divide a scientific effort into four fundamental elements namely: ideas, work, writing, and stewardship. These elements will then be used as the basis to develop a rational approach to quantify individual responsibility in a multi-author article. The outcome of this quantitative approach will be used to answer several nagging questions related to the authorship dilemma. This talk will be based on Prof. Clement’s recent journal article available at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11948-013-9454-3
More details about Prof. Clement are available at this link: http://www.eng.auburn.edu/~clemept/