Issues and rules for authors concerning authorship versus acknowledgements, dual publication, self plagiarism, and salami publishing

Abstract

by students, by faculty, and by other editors.Decisions about authorship may seem straight forward, but in reality, they can become quite complex.This topic is less a problem in nursing than in many other fields where there is a tradition of including mentors or department chairs as authors, even if they have not contributed in a significant way to the article.In order to avoid contention, however, the topic should be discussed by all investigators as early in a project as possible, with agreement about ground rules on who will be included in the author list and what criteria will determine order of inclusion.Although authorship discussion begins early, it should be on-going, as participation may change during the course of a study or in the writing of a article.Within nursing and other social sciences, most authors and editors refer to the guiding rules for inclusion established by the American Psychological Association (APA, 2001).