RTI Press publications are bound by the same authorship policies (detailed below) that govern authorship of all scholarly manuscripts written by RTI International authors.
Author Criteria
Publications may have one or more authors. Each research study presents a particular set of circumstances that should be considered when deciding about authorship, and different publications from a single study may themselves present different circumstances. In general, to qualify as an author, significant participation in at least three of the following criteria should be established:
- Contribution of research ideas
- Leadership in the study
- Design of experimental procedure, model, or protocol
- Responsibility for acquisition and/or analysis of data
- Interpretation of results of the data analysis
- Writing (drafting, revising) the manuscript
- Approval of the final manuscript
- Ability to defend part or all of the publication related to the professional discipline
- Acceptance of responsibility for final manuscript
For example, a minimal requirement may be active participation in conception and design or analysis, interpretation of the data, and writing (drafting, revising) the manuscript. In addition, authors must be able to defend part or all of the publication related to the professional discipline.
In all multi-authored publications, each co-author must actively participate in verifying the part of the manuscript falling within their specialty area and in designating one author to be responsible for the validity of the entire manuscript. In some cases, as for peer-reviewed articles, all authors must affirm that they can take responsibility for the entire article. All parties should agree to the authorship lists and the ordering. Artificial Intelligence may not be an author.
If the designation of a lead or senior author for any publication is necessary, then the choice should be based on
- overall leadership, guidance, and responsibility,
- substantive contribution to the key original ideas,
- active participation in interpretation of the results and the preparation of the manuscript, and
- ability to technically defend all aspects of the work.
The lead, senior, or corresponding author must accept responsibility for the final manuscript.
A lead or senior author is the most likely candidate to be a corresponding author. When that is not the case, the choice of the corresponding author should be based on seniority among the remaining authors.
The lead, senior, or corresponding author is responsible for obtaining permission to use any copyrighted material pursuant to the provisions of RTI Internationalʹs copyrighted/proprietary data and materials policy.
Authorship depends on the person's contribution rather than on the importance of the person's discipline or position relative to the study, the publication, or any organization. Spending a large number of hours working on the project is not a basis for authorship unless the above criteria for authorship are also met.
Supervisors of research units, centers, or laboratories, and individuals associated with funding entities, should not automatically be listed as authors on research publications. To be included as authors, individuals must meet the criteria for authorship noted herein. Individuals associated with funding agencies may be considered for authorship if they have had a major role in the design of the project and have contributed in substantive ways to the draft and/or final manuscripts.
The principal author of a publication stemming from a presentation at a conference may differ from the person who made the presentation at the conference. In addition, in the case of multiple authors, the named authors and the order may differ between a presentation and a publication. Nevertheless, decisions about authorship should follow the criteria described herein.
Authorship consists of contributions of intellectual thought, effort, understanding, and responsibility for the published work. The concepts of “honorary authorship” and “ghost authorship” are unacceptable for RTI staff, and Artificial Intelligence may not be an author.
Individuals who contributed to a study but do not qualify for authorship should be considered for Acknowledgement. Authors should also acknowledge the use of Artificial Intelligence, where this increases the transparency of the research.
Authorship Order
Where practicable, the decision regarding the order of listed authorship should be made collectively by the individuals involved in the study. The order of authors on a publication will depend on various circumstances. These can include, but are not limited to, journal requirements (e.g., ceilings on the number of named authors allowed), the traditional conventions of different disciplines, and special situations involving collective authorships (e.g., by committees). Guidelines to address these situations are noted below.
- In situations in which several individuals make major contributions to a publication, the name of the individual who made the principal contribution to the publication should be listed as first author, with subsequent names listed in the order of decreasing contribution. In many such situations, the first author will be the person who has taken responsibility for compiling the first draft.
- By convention in certain disciplines, an individual who makes a major contribution to a publication may sometimes be listed as last author. This position may identify the research group or unit in which the work was done, even though that individual’s overall contribution may not be less than those of individuals named earlier in the author list.
- In other instances, authorship order may not reflect relative contributions. One example is the use of an alphabetical listing of author names (which rarely may be a journal requirement) or a “collective” authorship, such as a trialists, research group, or committee. In such cases an explanatory footnote should be provided.
Generally, however, individuals listed as first and last author are usually perceived as having major roles in the work or the publication (e.g., senior author). Some journals have specific rules for listing authors. For this reason, prospective authors (typically the lead or corresponding author, if different) should examine the journal’s guidelines for authorship on how to proceed. In addition, many journals require identification of a corresponding author as the point of contact for communications, revisions, galley proofs, and the like. As noted earlier, this may be the lead author or senior author, but it need not be, especially if those individuals do not want this responsibility or expect not to be affiliated with RTI by the time the publication appears.
Acceptance of Responsibility
By accepting credit for a publication, authors also accept responsibility for the content of the publication. Regarding their contributions to the publication, authors have responsibility for ensuring that:
- The content of the publication is factually accurate and scientifically sound;
- Proper acknowledgment is given via complete and accurate citations for published materials that directly influenced the writing or research, including page numbers for any published materials that are quoted verbatim;
- Proper acknowledgment is given for unpublished information from another individual that directly influenced or was used in the publication via notations of “personal communication”;
- The publication contains no plagiarized material and all material subject to copyrights has been used pursuant to the provisions of RTI International's intellectual property policy;
- Institutional and other requirements were met for protecting human or animal subjects used in the research; and
- Possible conflicts of interest (e.g., industry relationships or support) are disclosed or acknowledged.
The corresponding author (if different from the lead author) has the primary responsibility for addressing all these issues.
Authorship Decisions
Where practicable, the decisions about authorship (for one or multiple publications) should be made collegially and collectively by those individuals involved in the study. These decisions should be made as early as possible in the study but no later than the time at which responsibilities are assigned for the preparation of a manuscript for a paper, book, book chapter, monograph, etc. In most cases, final authorship should be decided after completion of the first draft.
Primary responsibility for initiating such discussions rests with the individual who made the principal contribution to the research study. In cases in which that person has no intention of publishing the results or has left RTI, and provided that the client has not placed a restriction on publication, then any person involved in the research may assume responsibility for authorship. Consideration should be given to former colleague(s) who may wish to retain a role in authorship.
The research collaborators shall evaluate the authorship criteria and make preliminary decisions on authorship. These decisions may need to be revised based on actual contributions to the book or article. The lead, senior, or corresponding author should ensure that all deserving individuals are included in the list of authors.
Disputes in Authorship
Within RTI, disagreements about authorship or order of authorship should be first discussed by the collaborators in the study. The authors should review the criteria for authorship during such discussions. Authors are strongly encouraged to seek the advice of colleagues who have not participated in the research activity.
If an individual believes that they have been wrongly omitted from authorship altogether or believes that their position in the author list is inappropriate, they should discuss the matter first with the lead or senior author.
If a dispute still exists, the matter may be taken to the Project Leader or Principal Investigator of the project, assuming that individual has not been a party to the initial discussions. If, at this point, a dispute still exists, the individual with the complaint can appeal the matter to their administrative supervisor.
Misconduct and Proprietary Infringement
Plagiarism
A published article that contains plagiarized text, figures, or tables must be reported as research misconduct in accordance with RTI´s scientific integrity policy.
Copyrighted/Proprietary Data and Materials Infringement
Written materials (text, figures, and tables) that are obtained from an already published source and used in a manuscript for publication (e.g., a review article) must be obtained in accordance with copyrighted/proprietary data and materials policy.
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