• Section 1 - Introduction/Background
• Section 2 - Scope/Purpose
• Section 3 - Authorship Management
• Section 4 - Student Attribution of Authorship
• Section 5 - Data Management
• Section 6 - Record Keeping
• Section 7 - Definitions

Section 1 - Introduction/Background

(1) This Procedure details the processes and responsibilities associated with the designation of authorship on publications emerging from research conducted at the University of Wollongong (“the University”).

(2) Author eligibility and author order should be agreed upon as early as reasonably possible following the commencement of a project.

(3) Authorship must:

1. be formally certified or acknowledged before publications are submitted;
2. include acknowledgement of those assisting the research; and
3. correctly attribute on publications all researchers, acknowledgement of funding sources and statement of relevant conflicts of interests by the authors.

(4) Disputes, concerns or complaints relating to the attribution of authorship must be resolved according to the University Authorship Grievance Procedure.

Section 2 - Scope/Purpose

(5) This Procedure enacts the Authorship Policy and requirements as outlined in the National Health and Medical Research Council Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, 2018 (“the Code”).

(6) This Procedure applies to all University researchers who participate in investigation and other academic activities to ensure they are equitably acknowledged and their contributions are fairly represented.

Section 3 - Authorship Management

(7) All research undertaken at the University in any capacity (including web based content), when written up and/or published, must include in their affiliation the “University of Wollongong” and the name of the relevant academic unit or research group.

(8) Authorship and authorship order must be discussed and agreed at the initial stage of the project by collaborating researchers, inclusive of current or past students. It is recognised that authorship order will vary between the established written conventions of the discipline and/or publisher and may be in order of contribution, proportion of input from each named author or in some instances as an alphabetical listing.

(9) Decisions pertaining to authorship and authorship order must be reviewed at appropriate times and agreed prior to peer review, appearance on the public record and/or final submission (e.g. if relative or anticipated contributions change).

(10) All researchers who meet the criteria for authorship as outlined in the Authorship Policy should be included as authors of a publication unless they decline to be an author.

(11) Records must be kept detailing all authorship discussions (either electronic or hard copy).

(12) In the event there is a group of authors, one author will be appointed as the “Executive Author”.

(13) The executive author is the single point of contact and responsible for the management of all communication with the publisher, internal and/or external parties.

(14) All researchers offered authorship must accept or decline the offer and agree to the authorship order, in writing, to the Executive Author. A publisher’s signatory document will satisfy this requirement, otherwise the University Authorship Acknowledgement Form must be completed. (An email or fax is a sufficient record in instances where it is not practical to obtain an original signature). If the executive author is not a University researcher their employer may have an alternate process for recording authorship which may be applied to satisfy this requirement.

(15) All authors must review and approve the manuscript or research output prior to submission for publication. The Executive Author will maintain a copy of all review and approval documentation.

(16) In the event an author is deceased or cannot be contacted (despite all reasonable efforts to do so), the publication is able to proceed provided that all other authors have no grounds to believe this person would have raised any objection to their inclusion as an author.

Section 4 - Student Attribution of Authorship

(17) Unless other conventions or conditions apply a student may be the first author on any work arising from their thesis where they have made a significant intellectual contribution such as if they had a leading role in the conception and design or analysis and interpretation of data.

(18) A student or student’s supervisor should only be included as an author when he/she meets the criteria for authorship. A student and supervisor should reach agreement, in writing, on the authorship on a publication arising from a student's thesis. The expectations and confirmation of authorship must be agreed and discussed by both the student and supervisor prior to the award of the degree.

(19) If the student does not submit a manuscript for publication in a reasonable period of time, generally within six months of:

1. the date of completion of the project; or
2. the date that the student ceased working on the project

(20) The supervisor may prepare a manuscript for publication (subject to the Authorship Policy). In such cases, the supervisor may include themselves, the student and any other person warranting attribution as an author, provided that the consent of the student and all other authors is obtained. In such cases, it may be appropriate for the supervisor to be named as first author.

Section 5 - Data Management

(21) The executive author will be responsible for any requests to access additional information pertaining to the publication including access to the original data. The granting of any such assess must be managed in accordance with the Research Data Management Policy and any associated guidelines.

Section 6 - Record Keeping

(22) The executive author is responsible for all communications and record keeping pertaining to the research output inclusive of requests for data, agreed authorship discussions, authorship orders and written agreements. This is in accordance with the Research Data Management Policy and any other applicable guidelines.

(23) All authors must retain a copy of all documentation, discussions and decisions on acknowledging authorship in accordance with the Records Management Policy.

(24) All scholarly outputs must be recorded in the University Research Information System (RIS) and that research publications in RIS are also made available online via Research Online, the University’s institutional repository.

Section 7 - Definitions