August 7, 2019, by Lisa Chin

Authorship vs Acknowledgements Demystified

This post is written by Dr Tissa Chandesa, Research Training Development Manager.


We conducted our Researcher Workshop Series throughout the month of July 2019. This series of workshops cover topics that have been highlighted by early career researchers as areas where they would like more advice and practice-sharing opportunities.

Professor Deborah Hall conducted the Authorship vs Acknowledgements Demystified workshop on 18 July 2019. According to Professor Hall, “All too often, academic teams do not discuss authorship until the process of writing has started (or sometimes almost finished). This can sometimes cause big arguments, but these can be avoided by considering very early on the contribution – or potential contribution of every team member”. As a result, this workshop discussed authorship and enabled participants to be aware of the criteria for determining author contribution and apply this information to describe the difference between author and non-author contributions.

During the 2-hour workshop, Professor Hall highlighted what warrants authorship and acknowledgement. In addition, the different types of authors that can be addressed in a publication was explained. Furthermore, the distinct difference between Green and Gold open access publications was clarified. Professor Hall also provided examples and exercises of how to identify first authorships.

Based on the feedback received, participants found the session very informative as they really appreciated the sharing of experience in authorship by Professor Hall, who is a Section Editor for an Elsevier Journal.


For more information, please contact us at RAD@nottingham.edu.my.

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