SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Policy of the Graduate Group in Demography Regarding Authorship
Credit in Collaborative Faculty-Student Publications

The Graduate Group in Demography takes seriously its mission of training new scholars and research
workers. Graduate education, especially at the doctoral level, is designed to facilitate the evolution
of individuals from student to colleague. One of the proudest achievements in the professional life
of any faculty member should be the success of his or her students.

The success of this enterprise requires an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust among students
and faculty. All must feel free to exchange ideas, discuss academic issues, and work together in the
advancement of knowledge in the field. It has been our experience that such a climate of mutual
respect and trust has and does exist within our community. Nevertheless, because of the many opportunities
for collaborative research in Demography involving faculty research projects of various
scale, we take the opportunity provided by the Graduate Council of the Faculties’ 8 October 1998
policy on authorship credit in collaborative faculty-student publications (http://www.upenn.edu/
VPGE/authorpolicy_alpha.html) to set forth guidelines for multiple authorship issues involving faculty
and students.

The Graduate Group in Demography recognizes that the production of intellectual knowledge
often benefits from a variety of contributions from many people. These may be contributions of ideas,
data, financial support, and encouragement, among others. It is a long standing and time-honored
academic norm to acknowledge such contributions in footnotes and Acknowledgment sections of
published works and elsewhere. We subscribe to this tradition and urge all of our graduate students
to make it part of their own professional character. The following guidelines, therefore, are intended
to supplement, not replace, these professional norms.

1. It is to everyone's benefit if there is a clear understanding about potential joint authorship
   roles whenever there is research collaboration among faculty and students, whether the latter
   are research trainees, students in a class, hired assistants, or informal volunteers. Initial
   arrangements—or lack thereof—can be discussed anew should circumstances change, whether
   this is because the student contributes less or more to the project than was originally anticipated.
2. Authorship is not presumed to be a right obtained by association with a research project. Hence
   the need for prior understandings, as stated above.
3. In general, authorship in demography implies that all authors have made a major substantive
   contribution to the research being reported, although on occasion the scale of the research is
   such that some of the authors are included by dint of specific technical contributions and, in
   international collaborations, norms may be different and co-authors are sometimes included
   for administrative reasons.
4. Data gathered for a research project or program of research under a Principal Investigator—
   under a grant or otherwise—are presumed to be the intellectual property of that Investigator.
   It is an academic tradition that such data are not used without the Principal Investigator’s permission,
   unless they have been made part of a public archive. In either case, proper acknowledgments
   are expected.
5. It is the presumption that the person or persons who conceptualized the project, secured the
   funding, developed the research instruments, implemented the field work, etc., should review
   any publications or other public presentations from the project and give their permission if
   something from the project is to be published without their authorship.
6. A student is presumed to have authorship of his or her masters paper, second-year paper, and
   doctoral dissertation and is encouraged to publish any parts or all of the approved thesis or
   dissertation unless there have been some prior, explicit arrangements to which the student has
   agreed, e.g., that authorship must be shared with others contributing to the project, or to wait for
   a jointly authored or edited book combining several papers or theses, or when the assistance
   of a faculty member is requested in re-drafting and re-organizing the material for publication
   beyond what is required for a successful thesis.
7. It is impossible to anticipate all problems that may conceivably arise regarding authorship issues.
   We believe that mutual respect, trust and clear communication, which are hallmarks of
   the academic enterprise, will forestall serious difficulties. However, if disagreements about authorship
   do arise that cannot be resolved by the individuals involved, it is recommended that
   the matter be referred to the Chair of the Graduate Group in Demography. If resolution is not
   possible through his or her offices, the issues can be brought to the attention of the Associate
   Dean for Graduate Studies of the School of Arts and Sciences who, on the authority of the
   Graduate Council of Faculties, “should convene a committee of faculty and graduate students
   to hear the disagreement and attempt to resolve it. Cases will be decided in the context of the
   published norms and guidelines of the graduate group.”