On the authorship criteria

The endless efforts of researchers finally pay off at the joyful moment of receiving the acceptance letter. The published article is valued by the authors, as it can advance science and help humanity. But is that all? Of course there remains another major source of encouragement to authors, which may be the most important part of a research. Paper publishing rewards its authors with scientific credit and acknowledgment. The main currency in the world of science is authorship. Authorship enables scientists to accumulate citations, which seem to be established as the ‘true’ measure of successful and important science. It is the key to obtaining grants and winning promotions, and predicting a scientist’s success. Yet, authorship is a dubious indicator. Experienced readers know that decoding an author list in terms of actual contribution to the article is nearly impossible. Students find that they have to contribute much more than do senior researchers to be listed as an author, although they might overlook the expertise and knowledge senior scientists bring to the project with their smaller but usually significant contribution. Initially, students can feel exploited, but they may get used to the system. Eventually, if they choose an academic career, they may (more or less willingly) adopt the behavior themselves.