Authorship & Acknowledgement of Core Facilities
Authorship & Acknowledgement of Core Facilities
Devante Aaron Horne, CLIF Intern
In order to maintain a public trust in research endeavors, scholarly integrity must be upheld through proper reporting of research discoveries, including proper acknowledgement of scientific contribution. The following article provides a description of the considerations for responsible recognition of contributions in scholarly publications, specifically considering the contributions from core research facilities such as the Clemson Light Imaging Facility.
The type of recognition that is most appropriate may be different for individual projects, depending on the contribution that the core facility personnel provides. While core facilities must charge for their services, this does not preclude authorship on manuscripts. The purpose of user fees are to support equipment maintenance and are not to be considered payment for intellectual contributions.
Core facilities and their personnel should be acknowledged for their contributions by either co-authorship in the publication or by formal mention in the author’s acknowledgments section. As scientists, core facility personnel who make substantial intellectual and experimental contributions to a project deserve to be acknowledged just as any other co-author. Proper acknowledgement will help core facility personnel to advance their scientific careers, improving the overall health of the core facility. Also, proper acknowledgement in publications serves as a metric value of the core facility. A facility that is capable of showing value to the academic community is able to obtain funding and other support through project grants which allows these facilities to continue to provide their essential services in the best way possible.
Some may wonder how to properly acknowledge a core facility and its personnel. There seems to be a general misunderstanding of whether authorships or acknowledgement is most appropriate.
An author is generally considered to be an individual who has made substantial intellectual contributions to a scientific investigation. Typical contributions which may earn authorship for core facilities include: conception / design of project, implementation of original ideas, data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation.2,3
Acknowledgement is most appropriate when contributors do not meet the criteria for authorship, but have contributed in some way that should still be recognized in the acknowledgements section. For example, if a core facility collects data but is not involved in data interpretation, they have not given an intellectual contribution and therefore their contribution does not constitute authorship.3,4
The following are examples provided by the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities in order to help you decide the type of recognition that your facility and / or personnel deserves:
Ex 1: Scientist A designs the experiments, and tells Technician B exactly how to do the experiments. If the experiments work and a new discovery is made and a manuscript results, Scientist A is the sole author and Technician B is recognized in the acknowledgements section.
Ex 2: Scientist A designs the experiments, Technician B carries them out but they do not work out. Technician B suggests some changes to the protocol, the experiments then work because of the changes and a discovery results. Scientist A and Technician B are now both authors.1
The CLIF requires that facility users abide by 3 recognition guidelines, which are supported by the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities.
Category 1: Acknowledgement of CLIF only (user works independently after training)
Category 2: Acknowledgement of CLIF AND Manager/Assistant Manager/Intern (user works with substantial assistance)
Category 3: Authorships (CLIF Manager/Assistant Manager/Intern assists with experimental planning, performs significant sample preparation, or performs imaging)
If the work you perform in the CLIF falls into Categories 2 or 3, you will be required to submit a project description, which will be signed by you, the project PI, and CLIF Management. We are also happy to schedule an in-person meeting if needed. No work which falls within the description of Categories 2 or 3 will be performed until this form is submitted.
All CLIF users are asked to provide us with information about presentations (oral and poster), grants, publications, theses/dissertations, etc. in which the facility is acknowledged. This description could include title, authors, meeting location and date; a title and funding agency; a paper copy; or an electronic copy. Such information is important to us as we are responsible for demonstrating the utility of the facility to Clemson University and to funding agencies.
It is important to understand how to recognize others for their contributions to your research projects. Scholarly integrity and the responsible conduct and reporting of research is essential for maintaining public trust in the research community. As a current or potential user of a core research facility, please consider these guidelines in order to properly attribute authorship or show acknowledgement of the core facility’s contributions.
1. ABRF Recommended Guidelines for Authorship on Manuscripts, October 2011
2. Washington University in St. Louis, Policy for Authorship on Scientific and Scholarly Publications, December 2009
3. Huth, E. J. [1986] Guidelines on Authorship of Medical Papers, Annals Int. Med. 104: 269-274
4. Bailey, B.J. [2001] What is an Author? Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg. 124:2-3
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