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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 17
| Issue : 1 | Page : 28 |
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List of authors in scholarly publications: Does it matter? reply
Jerry Godfrey Makama
Department of Surgery, Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria
| Date of Web Publication | 16-May-2016 |
Correspondence Address:
Jerry Godfrey Makama
Department of Surgery, Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna State University, Kaduna
Nigeria
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1595-1103.182482
How to cite this article:
Makama JG. List of authors in scholarly publications: Does it matter? reply. Niger J Surg Res 2016;17:28 |
Dear Editor,
I wish to thank Jena and Patnayak for their interests and thoughtful comments on the editorial of Nigerian Journal of Surgical Research titled “List of authors in scholarly publications: Sequence and what value?”[1] In the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria,[2] when a large multi-author group has conducted the work, the group should decide who will be an author before the work is started. This is because the criteria stipulate and require that there should be full participation of all scholars that are worthy to be mentioned in the list of authors. It is the responsibility of the individuals who are involved in the conduct of the research to identify who meets the criteria and that this should be done during the planning of the work, along with appropriate modification as the work progresses. All members of the group that are entitled to be named as authors must certify the four ICMJE criteria, should be able to take public responsibility for their work and thus, have the full confidence of the accuracy and integrity of the work.
In view of the above, the roles and contributions of each author should be similar, and therefore, the sequence of authors should be based on mutual agreement by concerned scholars. This indeed should be discussed and agreed on at the very early stage of the research.
In terms of awarding credit to author, based on the above discussion and the ICJME criteria, it is clear and I agree with him that awarding credit, based on evidence provided in the statement of contribution by the authors, is most appropriate so as to encourage the spirit of collaboration with one another. There is a growing demand that many journals should be encouraged to ask for a statement of contribution from authors because in addition to the fact that it will show or ensure all the authors meet the credibility of being authors it will also give any assessment team an opportunity to award credits based on the evidence of contributions from each author.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Makama JG. List of authors in scholarly publications: Sequence and what value? Niger J Surg Res 2015;16:1-2.   |
| 2. | Fees F. Recommendation for Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Available from: target="_blank" href="http://www.icmje.org". [Last update on 2015 Dec; Last accessed on 2016 Mar 10]. |
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