Less Work, Less Respect: Authors' Perceived Importance of Research Contributions and Their Declared Contributions to Research Articles Importance of Contributions for Authorship
2011

Authors' Perceived Importance of Research Contributions

Sample size: 1014 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Ivaniš Ana, Hren Darko, Marušić Matko, Marušić Ana

Primary Institution: Vrapče Psychiatric Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia

Hypothesis

There is an association between authors' perceived importance of contributions for authorship qualification and their participation in manuscripts submitted to a journal.

Conclusion

Authors value contributions they participated in more than those they did not participate in.

Supporting Evidence

  • Authors who contributed to a specific category rated it as more important for authorship than those who did not contribute.
  • Qualifying authors rated all contribution categories higher than non-qualifying authors.
  • Statistically significant differences were found for all contribution categories.

Takeaway

The study found that authors think their own contributions are more important than those they didn't help with.

Methodology

Authors rated their contributions and the importance of these contributions for authorship qualification using a five-point scale.

Potential Biases

Self-reporting of socially desirable behavior could affect the honesty of responses.

Limitations

The lack of anonymity in responses may have influenced the accuracy of answers.

Participant Demographics

Participants included 1181 authors from 265 manuscripts submitted to the Croatian Medical Journal.

Statistical Information

P-Value

p<0.001

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1371/journal.pone.0020206

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