Authorship Definitions
Authorship Dispute:
A situation where one or more researchers or scholars disagree about who should be included as an author of or the order of authorship on a scholarly or research work.
Authorship for Sale:
An individual who is included in the list of authors based on payment by the individual and not for any intellectual contributions.
Binding Decision:
A decision concerning authorship credit or responsibilities made after a request for a formal adjudication of an authorship dispute under this policy. UIC will work with appropriate parties, such as journal editors, to try to ensure that these individuals comply with binding decisions.¶
¶See NIH IRP Authorship Conflict Resolution Process.
Coercive Author:
An individual who is included in the list of authors and who holds a senior position within the institution where the research occurred and uses this senior position to force or coerce other to include them in the list of authors without any intellectual contributions.
Complainant(s):‡
The individual(s) who bring allegations or a complaint.
‡See the University of Illinois Policy on Integrity in Research and Publication.
Disciplinary College Dean (Dean):
The disciplinary college dean is the dean of the disciplinary college in which the individual bringing the Complaint conducted the research or scholarship. The Disciplinary Dean is not the Graduate College Dean or Honors College Dean.
Financial Interest:
Anything of monetary value, including, but not limited to, salary or other payments for services (e.g., consulting fees or honoraria); equity interest (e.g., stocks, stock options or other ownership interests); and intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, copyrights and royalties from such rights).
Forged Author:
An individual who is included in the list of authors without their knowledge to increase the likelihood of publication acceptance and not for any intellectual contributions.
Ghost Author:
An individual contributed intellectually but agrees to not be included in the list of authors.
Gift Author:
An individual who is included in the list of authors with the blatant or surreptitious hope that the individual will return the favor and not for any intellectual contributions.
Good Faith:
An individual acts in good faith, under this policy, if they are making an honest and sincere effort to resolve a dispute in a timely manner, are not misrepresenting facts, and are cooperating fully with the dispute resolution process.¶
¶See NIH IRP Authorship Conflict Resolution Process.
Guest Author:
An individual who is included in the list of authors because of their acknowledged expertise in the field or with the hope that inclusion will increase the likelihood of publication acceptance and not for any intellectual contributions.
Honorary Author:
An individual who is included in the list of authors due to holding a senior position within the institution where the research occurred and not for any intellectual contributions.
Mutual Support Author:
An individual who is included in the list of authors with the intention of increasing the perceived productivity and not for any intellectual contributions.
Orphan Author:
An individual who is refused, or effort is made to not offer, authorship while contributing intellectually.
Plagiarism:†
The appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.
†65(235) Federal Register 76262 (December 6, 2000)
Research group:
A group of individuals that are work under the supervision or direction of single researcher, typically a tenure-track faculty member, often referred to as the principal investigator (PI) or lead author.
Senior Author:
A major contributor to the publication, consistent with UIC Promotion and Tenure documents, typically a leader of a research group. There may be more than one senior author on a manuscript.
Unit Executive Officer (UEO)
The department head or center director, the unit executive officer is the individual to which the researcher or scholar reports in their primary academic or research appointment. For a researcher or scholar who holds academic or research and administrative position(s) in different units, the primary academic appointment not the administrative appointment will be considered as the primary appointment.