The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery

Author Contributorship Systems

It is interesting that, despite the existence of the "Uniform Requirements" and author guidelines for individual journals, the editors of many journals have been unwilling or unable to assert their authority in enforcing these requirements⁵. Several proposals have been put forward for collecting and publishing individual researchers' contributions to the overall project^6,7. Table I provides an example of the details typically provided in the author contribution section of the publication. Although a number of leading medical journals are now employing this technique, not all orthopaedic journals currently require this detailed reporting of author contributions. A review of the online authorship guidelines for four leading orthopaedic journals revealed that only two of the four currently require a statement detailing the individual contributions of each author (Table II).

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TABLE I Examples of Contributorship and Group Authorship

	Contributorship	Group Authorship
Title of Paper	Study XYZ	Study XYZ
Author byline	Author A, Author B, Author C	The Study XYZ Investigators or Author A, Author B, Author C, on behalf of the Study XYZ Investigators
Author contributions	The Writing Committee [list members] assumes responsibility for the overall content and integrity of the manuscript. [Principal Investigators] had full access to the study data and take responsibility for the integrity of that data and the accuracy of the analyses	As per the requirements of the journal. This may include a summary of author contributions as described under "Contributorship"
	Study concept and design: [list contributing authors]
	Statistical analysis: [list contributing authors]
	Interpretation of the data: [list contributing authors]
	Drafting of the manuscript: [list contributing authors]
	Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: [list contributing authors]
	Obtained funding: [list contributing authors]
Study investigators	Authors may include a list of investigators as described under the text heading "Group Authorship and Academic Credit"	Investigators:
		The following individuals participated in the XYZ Study:
		Co-Principal Investigators: [list investigators]
		Steering and/or Writing Committee: [Chair; other members]
		Central Adjudication Committee: [Chair; other members]
		Coordinating Center Staff: [list members]
		Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB): [Chair; other members]
		Site Investigators: [Institution 1: list investigators; Institution 2: list investigators; Institution 3: list investigators]

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TABLE I Examples of Contributorship and Group Authorship

	Contributorship	Group Authorship
Title of Paper	Study XYZ	Study XYZ
Author byline	Author A, Author B, Author C	The Study XYZ Investigators or Author A, Author B, Author C, on behalf of the Study XYZ Investigators
Author contributions	The Writing Committee [list members] assumes responsibility for the overall content and integrity of the manuscript. [Principal Investigators] had full access to the study data and take responsibility for the integrity of that data and the accuracy of the analyses	As per the requirements of the journal. This may include a summary of author contributions as described under "Contributorship"
	Study concept and design: [list contributing authors]
	Statistical analysis: [list contributing authors]
	Interpretation of the data: [list contributing authors]
	Drafting of the manuscript: [list contributing authors]
	Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: [list contributing authors]
	Obtained funding: [list contributing authors]
Study investigators	Authors may include a list of investigators as described under the text heading "Group Authorship and Academic Credit"	Investigators:
		The following individuals participated in the XYZ Study:
		Co-Principal Investigators: [list investigators]
		Steering and/or Writing Committee: [Chair; other members]
		Central Adjudication Committee: [Chair; other members]
		Coordinating Center Staff: [list members]
		Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB): [Chair; other members]
		Site Investigators: [Institution 1: list investigators; Institution 2: list investigators; Institution 3: list investigators]

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TABLE II Authorship Guidelines for Four Leading Orthopaedic Journals

Journal	Number of Authors	Author Contributions	Group Authorship
Acta Orthopaedica²⁴	No limitations	Authors to provide description of their individual contributions at end of manuscript	Not addressed
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research²⁵	Case reports: maximum of 4	Individual authors must contribute to at least 3 of 5 identified elements: Designed study Gathered data Analyzed data Wrote initial draft Ensured accuracy of data analysis	Not addressed
	Other studies: maximum of 5
	Exceptions made for Level I or II studies
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American volume)²⁶	No limitations	No details required with submission of manuscript	Author A, Author B, on behalf of [Name of Group]or [Name of Group]
		Editors may request justification of author selection
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British volume)²⁷	Maximum of 6 unless exceptional circumstances exist	No details required with submission of manuscript	Not addressed

With name of group in the byline, followed by an asterisk directing readers to a list of authors and other group members either as a footnote at the bottom of the first page or as an acknowledgment at the end of the paper.

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TABLE II Authorship Guidelines for Four Leading Orthopaedic Journals

Journal	Number of Authors	Author Contributions	Group Authorship
Acta Orthopaedica²⁴	No limitations	Authors to provide description of their individual contributions at end of manuscript	Not addressed
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research²⁵	Case reports: maximum of 4	Individual authors must contribute to at least 3 of 5 identified elements: Designed study Gathered data Analyzed data Wrote initial draft Ensured accuracy of data analysis	Not addressed
	Other studies: maximum of 5
	Exceptions made for Level I or II studies
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American volume)²⁶	No limitations	No details required with submission of manuscript	Author A, Author B, on behalf of [Name of Group]or [Name of Group]
		Editors may request justification of author selection
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British volume)²⁷	Maximum of 6 unless exceptional circumstances exist	No details required with submission of manuscript	Not addressed

Those who support policies requiring authors to disclose their contributions believe that, by removing vague acknowledgment to authors, they are giving contributors to a study both the credit and the responsibility for their efforts⁷. Opponents of such policies state that readers are not interested in this information and that it only potentially leads to problems between coauthors⁸. Furthermore, the overall effectiveness of these policies remains unclear. In a study of papers in three medical journals with differing systems for collecting and reporting author contributions, Bates et al. reported that the number of papers in which authors failed to meet the uniform requirements ranged from 4% to 60%⁹. The authors concluded that the effects of the different authorship and contributorship strategies employed by these journals should be explored further.

Contributorship systems can also be expanded to collect information on who is going to take responsibility for the quality of the research (Table I). However, as the number of authors on a publication increases, so do the challenges involved in determining who can and should accept primary responsibility if questions arise concerning the integrity of the research. This would appear to be an area that merits careful future consideration⁵.

Acknowledgments

According to the ICMJE Uniform Requirements, all individuals whose contributions to the research study did not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgment section¹. For example, most would agree that statisticians (who contribute only calculation of values without more input to the design or outcomes) and other general support staff (who help with the progress of projects but have limited academic input) do not deserve author credit. Their value is recognized, but their role is not one of an author who deserves academic credit. The Uniform Requirements also specify that acquiring funding or general supervision of a research group, alone, does not justify authorship¹. In an attempt to better acknowledge the contribution of individuals who have made substantial contributions to the research but who have not met the requirements for authorship, some journals encourage authors to list these individuals under headings such as "clinical investigators" or "participating investigators."

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Paul TornettaIII, Jodi Siegel, Paula McKay, Mohit Bhandari; Authorship and Ethical Considerations in the Conduct of Observational Studies. The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. 2009 May;91(Supplement_3):61-67.

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