Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): Authorship

Authorship in healthcare refers to the process of determining and acknowledging the individuals who have made significant contributions to a research paper, study, or other publication. Authorship is typically determined by a set of guidelines established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

The ICMJE defines an ““author”” as someone who has made a substantial intellectual contribution to the work and who has been involved in drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content. Additionally, authors should also have seen and approved the final version of the work and agreed to its submission for publication.

The order of authorship is also important in healthcare, with the first and last authors being considered the most significant contributors, while the middle authors are considered to have made less significant contributions.

Problems with authorship can arise when individuals who have not made significant contributions to a study or publication are listed as authors, or when individuals who have made significant contributions are not listed as authors. This can be detrimental to the integrity of the research and may lead to questions about the validity of the findings.

In healthcare, authorship is crucial as it ensures the accuracy and integrity of the research and publications, it also ensures that the authors are held accountable for the research they have contributed and it gives recognition to the authors for their contributions.