ºìÐÓÊÓƵ

Authorship Guidelines

Authorship guidelines aim to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge generated by both faculty members and students in the School of Nursing. However, a number of issues pertaining to authorship need to be considered: nature of contributions, intellectual property rights, scholarly integrity, responsibilities of authors, and power differentials between faculty members and students. Scholarly publications fall under the University of Victoria Policy on Scholarly Integrity (Policy #1160) and the Faculty of Human and Social Development Guidelines for Scholarly Integrity. Intellectual Property in relation to commercial considerations is addressed in University of Victoria Policy 1180. In the event of any contradictions with this document, the University

Underlying Beliefs and Values

The University of Victoria School of Nursing supports involvement of students in research projects and publications. We believe that faculty members have an important role to play in mentoring students in scholarly activities and in publishing. However, given the obligation of faculty members to publish, it is possible for conflict of interest situations to arise. Students and faculty members should discuss author credits early in their working relationship.

Guidelines

To ensure transparency and avoid conflicts, the following guidelines are based on commonly accepted academic principles.

• Authorship will be consistent with the International Committee of Medical Journal (2006) Editors statement:

• Publications and/or dissemination should be negotiated in advance by all parties involved in the research or intellectual work. This agreement should be put in writing.
• Order of authorship on a manuscript should reflect the efforts of those who have done the most work on the paper by placing their names first.
• Early in the collaboration of students with faculty members, both parties should agree on expected contributions to the project and to the paper/writing.
• Names of contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship (e.g., providing care, access to study patients, material and financial support, research assistance) should be acknowledged in a separate heading. Written permission should be obtained from persons who are listed in acknowledgements.
• Legally, data are not considered intellectual property and cannot be owned. Researchers who compile or interpret data have an intellectual property interest in it. It is advisable that researchers who have students or colleagues accessing their data request signature on a confidentiality agreement, so that data cannot be used for other purposes without permission.
• Normally, a student will be first author of publications arising from his/her thesis/dissertation/classroom assignments. The professor may share authorship if substantial contributions have been made to the work. Publications coming from student research must acknowledge all contributors to the work. Supervisors and students should discuss this issue at the beginning stages of the thesis or dissertation process.
• If the student is unable/unwilling to publish the thesis/dissertation after its completion, the supervisor, ONLY with the explicit agreement of the student may write an article for publication with the student included as second author.
• The order of authorship should be a joint decision of the co-authors. In general, the order will be based on extent of contribution. When the contribution is equal among a group of authors, authorship could be listed alphabetically, randomly, or by agreement among authors to rotate authorship on various publications.

In the event of dispute regarding authorship, all authors involved in the paper should meet to discuss the issue. Graduate students and junior faculty may choose to be accompanied by an advocate. If the matter is not resolved, it will be referred firstly to the Graduate Advisor responsible for the student’s program, and then, if necessary with the Director of the School and finally with the Dean of Graduate Studies. If all other avenues are unsuccessful, the Vice-President Academic can be called on to provide a final ruling.

In summary, the School of Nursing:

1. Encourages faculty and students to publish or otherwise disseminate their work
2. Recognizes that students have rights in the process
3. Encourages colleagues to discuss issues a priori and record their agreements in writing.

¹International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (2006). Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: Writing and editing for biomedical publications. Retrieved November 15, 2006 from