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February, 2012
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 Conduct Matters
Authorship Disputes
Deciding whose name is first on the list

I am a former postdoctoral fellow. At the time I left the lab, a publication was in the review process and I was listed as first author. The reviewers suggested major revisions and a revised version was recently submitted. I was shocked to learn I am now a "co-first author" and my name has been moved from the first position to the third position. I contacted my former mentor and demanded to be returned to the first author position. He said that others had to take on my project after my departure, and he changed the authorship order as a result. I contacted the publisher with my concerns and the review process was stopped. I am so upset and, because I am no longer at Hopkins, feel powerless to resolve the situation. What should I do?

Unfortunately, the situation you describe is a common one and one that could have been avoided with open and direct communications among all authors. In June 2008, the Advisory Board for the Medical Faculty approved a policy that provides guidance on authorship issues. The policy outlines the components of authorship but deliberately avoids dictating authorship order, stating, "The order of authorship on the byline should be a joint decision of the co-authors. Authors should be prepared to explain the order in which authors are listed." Your former mentor was wrong to change the authorship order without input from all authors and you should have used internal channels for resolving such disputes rather than contacting the publisher.

When postdoctoral fellows or graduate students leave a lab, it is quite common for others to take over research projects. As a result, authorship order may change on publications resulting from this work, especially if additional experiments are required. Before such changes are made, all authors should discuss and agree to the changes.

Certainly, reaching an agreement benefits all authors, but, in some cases authors are unwilling to agree to a change in order and the school of medicine offers mediation services to assist in resolving authorship disputes.

The Rules and Guidelines for the Responsible Conduct of Research may be found at http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/bin/k/z/responsibleConductofResearch.pdf. If further clarification or mediation is required, contact Sheila Garrity, director of the division of research integrity, at sgarrity@jhmi.edu.

 
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