Policy on Authorship
NYU-HJD Department of Orthopedic Surgery

Authorship is an explicit way of assigning responsibility and giving credit for intellectual work. The two are linked. Authorship practices should be judged by how honestly they reflect substantive contributions to the final product. Authorship is important to the reputation, academic promotion, and grant support of the persons involved as well as to the strength and reputation of their institutions.

Disputes over whom should be listed as an author and the order in which they should be listed can take a substantial toll on the goodwill, effectiveness, and reputation of the persons involved and the academic community at large. Many such disagreements result from misunderstandings that might have been prevented had a clearcut policy been established and agreed upon from the beginning.

Rules regarding authorship usually concern published reports of original scientific research, but the same principles apply to all intellectual products: words and/or images on paper or in electronic media, whether published or prepared for local use, whether intended for the dissemination of new discoveries and ideas, for published reviews of existing knowledge, or for educational programs.

The NYU-HJD Department of Orthopedic Surgery policy on authorship is as follows:

1. Only someone who has made a substantial, direct intellectual contribution to the work may be listed as an author—for example (in the case of a research report), someone who has contributed to the conception, design, analysis, and/or interpretation of data. “Honorary” or “guest” authorship is not acceptable. Acquisition of funding or provision of technical services, patients, or materials, while they may be essential to the work, are not in themselves sufficient contributions to justify authorship.
2. Everyone who has made a substantial intellectual contribution to the work must be listed as an author. Everyone who has made a substantial contribution of another kind should be acknowledged.
3. Every author must participate in the preparation of the work by reviewing drafts and approving the final version. Every author must be able to defend the entire contents of the work in a public forum.
4. The first author must take overall responsibility for the work, even if he or she does not have an in-depth understanding of every part of the work.
5. The senior author (who may also be the first author) must assure that every author meets the criteria for authorship.

In order to minimize misunderstandings regarding the above, researchers should jointly establish individual responsibilities at the onset of a project. Note that persons who make no contributions to a project have no claim on intellectual property rights. Stated directly, listing a noncontributor as an author on the title page of a manuscript is unethical.

Order of authorship

Many different ways of determining order of authorship exist across disciplines, research groups, and countries. Examples of authorship policies include descending order of contribution, placing the person who took the lead in writing the manuscript or doing the research first and the most experienced contributor (senior author) last, and alphabetical or random order. While the significance of a particular order may be understood in a given setting, order of authorship has no generally agreed-upon meaning.

1. Authors should jointly decide order of authorship, typically at the initiation of the project.
2. As a general guideline, it is recommended that the order of authors reflect the level of work: The first author should be the one who represents the majority effort in producing the work. The senior author is typically listed as the last author. The list and position of authors is at the discretion of the senior author.
   

Implementation

1. Research teams should discuss authorship issues frankly early in the course of their work together.
2. Disputes over authorship are best settled by the authors themselves or by the senior author. If these efforts fail, disputes should be submitted in writing to Dr. Zuckerman or the Director of the Musculoskeletal Research Center for resolution.