The Psychology Graduate Group guidelines on authorship are those proposed by the American Psychological Association (APA). Variations from the APA guidelines are limited to the removal of portions that relate strictly to publications in APA journals and the inclusion of a grievance procedure appropriate for the Psychology Graduate Group.
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct Standard 6.23: Publication Credit [from : "Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct," American Psychologist, Vol. 47, pp. 157-1611, 1992; reproduced from "APA Style Manual," American Psychological Association, 1994].
a) Psychologists take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performed or to which they have contributed.
b) Principal authorship and other publication credits accurately reflect the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their relative status. Mere possession of an institutional position, such as Department Chair [or laboratory director], does not justify authorship credit. Minor contributions to the research or to the writing for publications are appropriately acknowledged such as in footnotes or in an introductory statement
c) A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored article that is substantially based on the student's dissertation or thesis.
General Rules [from : "APA Style Manual," American Psychological Association, 1994]
Authorship is reserved for persons who receive primary credit and hold primary responsibility for a published work. Authorship encompasses, therefore, not only those who do the actual writing but also those who have made substantial scientific contributions to a study. Substantial professional contributions may include formulating the problem or hypothesis, structuring the experimental design, organizing and conducting the statistical analysis, interpreting the results, or writing a major portion of the paper. Those who so contribute are listed in the byline. Lesser contributions, which do not constitute authorship, may be acknowledged in a note. These contributions may include such supportive functions as designing or building the apparatus, suggesting or advising about the statistical analysis, collecting or entering the data, modifying or structuring a computer program, and recruiting participants or obtaining animals. Conducting routine observations or diagnoses for use in studies does not constitute authorship. Combinations of these (and other) tasks, however, may justify authorship. As early as practical in a research project, the collaborators should decide on which tasks are necessary for the projects completion, how the work will be divided, which tasks or combination of tasks merits authorship credit, and on what level credit should be given. This is especially appropriate if one of the collaborators is new to the publishing process.
Collaborators may need to reassess authorship credit and order if major changes are necessary in the course of the project (and its publication). This is especially true in faculty-student collaborations, when students may need intensive supervision or additional analyses may need to be conducted beyond the scope of a student's thesis or dissertation.
The corresponding author (the author who serves as the main contact) should always obtain a persons consent before including that person's name in a byline or in a note. Each author listed in the byline of an article should review the entire manuscript before it is submitted.
Authors are responsible for determining authorship and for specifying the order in which two or more author's names appear in the byline. The general rule is that the name of the principal contributor should appear first, with subsequent names in order of decreasing contribution. If authors played equal roles in the research and publication of their study, they may wish to note this using the methods described by the style guidelines provided by the journals publisher (e.g., in the second paragraph, using an author note, an asterisk in the by-line, etc.).
Authors are also responsible for the factual accuracy of their contributions. The opinions and statements published are the responsibility of the authors, and such opinions and statements do not necessarily represent the policies of the publishing journal or the views of the editors.
Grievance Procedure
Should conflicts of opinion arise regarding authorship between students and faculty members, the following grievance process is available. All authors should meet with the graduate group chair, who will act as mediator. Upon the request of one of the authors, the departmental chair may be included in the deliberations. Other faculty/students may be invited to assist in mediation if their inclusion is agreed upon by all authors and the graduate group chair. If the graduate group chair is a faculty author, the department chair will assume the role of mediator.
Mediation may result in decisions not wholly consistent with the above guidelines. If mediation with the graduate group chair fails to satisfy all authors, or if the graduate group chair prefers, the office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences should be consulted.