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Author credit-assignment schemas: A comparison and analysis

Authors:

Tamy ChambersAuthors Info & Claims

Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Volume 67, Issue 8

Pages 1973 - 1989

https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23495

Published: 01 August 2016 Publication History

Abstract

Credit assignment to multiple authors of a publication is a challenging task owing to the conventions followed within different areas of research. In this study, we present a review of different author credit-assignment schemas, which are designed mainly based on author position and the total number of coauthors on the publication. We implemented, tested, and classified 15 author credit-assignment schemas into 3 types: linear, curve, and "other" assignment schemas. Further investigation and analysis revealed that most of the methods provide reasonable credit-assignment results, even though the credit-assignment distribution approaches are quite different among different types. The evaluation of each schema based on PubMed articles published in 2013 shows that there exist positive correlations among different schemas and that the similarity of credit-assignment distributions can be derived from the similar design principles that stress the number of coauthors or the author position, or consider both. We provide a summary about the features of each credit-assignment schema to facilitate the selection of the appropriate one, depending on the different conditions required to meet diverse needs.

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Cited By

Xu SLi LWang CAn XYang G(2025)An improved author-topic (AT) model with authorship credit allocation schemesJournal of Information Science10.1177/0165551522113353051:1(184-204)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1177/01655515221133530
Sundling P(2023)Author contributions and allocation of authorship credit: testing the validity of different counting methods in the field of chemical biologyScientometrics10.1007/s11192-023-04680-y128:5(2737-2762)Online publication date: 31-Mar-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11192-023-04680-y
Griffin DArth ZHakim SBritt BGilbreath JPike MLaningham ABordbar FHart SBolkan S(2021)Collaborations in communication: Authorship credit allocation via a weighted fractional count procedureScientometrics10.1007/s11192-021-03927-w126:5(4355-4372)Online publication date: 1-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11192-021-03927-w
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Published In

cover image Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology

Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology Volume 67, Issue 8

August 2016

254 pages

ISSN:2330-1635

EISSN:2330-1643

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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 August 2016

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Cited By

Xu SLi LWang CAn XYang G(2025)An improved author-topic (AT) model with authorship credit allocation schemesJournal of Information Science10.1177/0165551522113353051:1(184-204)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1177/01655515221133530
Sundling P(2023)Author contributions and allocation of authorship credit: testing the validity of different counting methods in the field of chemical biologyScientometrics10.1007/s11192-023-04680-y128:5(2737-2762)Online publication date: 31-Mar-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11192-023-04680-y
Griffin DArth ZHakim SBritt BGilbreath JPike MLaningham ABordbar FHart SBolkan S(2021)Collaborations in communication: Authorship credit allocation via a weighted fractional count procedureScientometrics10.1007/s11192-021-03927-w126:5(4355-4372)Online publication date: 1-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11192-021-03927-w
Fassin Y(2020)The HF-rating as a universal complement to the h-indexScientometrics10.1007/s11192-020-03611-5125:2(965-990)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11192-020-03611-5
Osório A(2018)On the impossibility of a perfect counting method to allocate the credits of multi-authored publicationsScientometrics10.1007/s11192-018-2815-6116:3(2161-2173)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11192-018-2815-6
Bu YDing YXu JLiang XGao GZhao Y(2018)Understanding success through the diversity of collaborators and the milestone of careerJournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/asi.2391169:1(87-97)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1002/asi.23911
Pradhan DPaul PMaheswari UNandi SChakraborty T(2017)$$C^3$$C3-indexScientometrics10.1007/s11192-016-2168-y110:1(253-273)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11192-016-2168-y

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