We strive to be inclusive of all project participants, to offer junior project members leadership roles on papers, and to freely share our data while protecting publication priority of individual lab members.
General guidelines
- All products that are the result of progress towards overarching project goals should offer authorship opt-in to all project PIs, postdocs, students, and other group members (techs) and instructors/mentors.
- Any individual or group from outside the Markovich Lab who contributes data (and contributes to writing and editing) should be offered authorship.
- As primary author, be inclusive and take a leadership role on these efforts.
- As a potential coauthor, honestly consider your contribution and only accept co-authorship if warranted. We do not want to support the proliferation of unwarranted authorship — it benefits everyone if authorship is a meaningful signal of research output.
- Discuss authorship early, often, and openly. Plans for authorship should be clearly outlined for each project in a co-authorship memo.
- Papers and products that are enhanced from discussions or training that take place during NSF or DOE funding should include the project in their manuscript acknowledgements.
Types of products
The Markovich Lab is a collaborative research group composed primarily of early-career researchers, including undergraduates and graduate students. We acknowledge the unique importance of publications at this career stage. We anticipate that projects will result in several different mechanisms for disseminating research that require co-authorship agreement, including:
- Conference presentations (oral, poster, plenary)
- Peer-reviewed manuscripts (data-driven and review)
- Educational materials
- Data products
We plan to produce two types of products: component-specific and multi-component.
Component-specific products are those led by an individual PI, postdoc, student, or other lab-affiliated member. Examples include:
- Directed undergraduate projects (e.g., honors theses)
- Graduate student thesis and dissertation chapters
- Directed postdoc products
Multi-component products are larger efforts that may expand beyond the Markovich Lab itself, generally spanning across funding mechanisms or broader in scope than directed projects. Examples include:
- Data synthesis or modeling efforts
- Conceptual or review papers
- Cross-region comparison efforts
- Reflection pieces
Detailed roles for authors and co-authors
Primary author
The primary author is responsible for being inclusive in listing potential co-authors on the first draft of the manuscript. Consider as potential co-authors anyone involved in at least two of the following:
- Design of the study
- Collection or provision of data
- Analysis of results (data curation and/or formal analysis)
- Substantial analytical guidance
- Financial support and/or project management
- Writing of the paper
The primary author will lead the initial outlining, writing, and editing of a manuscript, including formatting for journal submission. Primary authors are responsible for providing a draft to all coauthors interested in reviewing it, and a final version once submitted. The primary author leads any major/minor revisions and responds to reviewers, including after graduating from the lab. If the manuscript is not published within 2 years of the primary author graduating and/or they are no longer proactive about leading revisions, Katie retains the right to reallocate first authorship.
Coauthors
Each potential coauthor is expected to make substantial contributions to the manuscript. If you feel someone else should be added to the author list, send this to the primary author.
Potential coauthors should acknowledge receipt of the draft and note whether they wish to be included as an author within a reasonable period set by the primary author (e.g., 1–2 weeks). If they do not respond after a reasonable follow-up effort, they will be omitted so the manuscript can proceed.
We follow the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) framework for identifying author contributions. Co-authors must fulfill at least two of the following criteria:
| Conceptualization |
Ideas; formulation of overarching research goals |
| Data Curation |
Managing, annotating, and maintaining research data |
| Formal Analysis |
Application of statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques |
| Investigation |
Performing experiments or data/evidence collection |
| Methodology |
Development or design of methodology; creation of models |
| Project Administration |
Management and coordination of research activity |
| Resources |
Provision of materials, instrumentation, or computing resources |
| Software |
Programming, software development, implementation of code |
| Supervision |
Oversight and leadership of research activity; mentorship |
| Validation |
Verification of reproducibility of results |
| Visualization |
Preparation and presentation of data/figures |
| Writing – Original Draft |
Writing the initial draft |
In addition, all authors must fulfill:
- Writing – Review & Editing: Meaningful critical review, commentary, or revision of the manuscript, including pre- or post-publication stages.
All authors should be able to explain and defend the methods and results in the paper and should generally agree with them. One only accepts authorship when one has made a real contribution to the work, can defend it, and has (or will make) the time to be actively involved in writing, reviewing, and editing.
Individuals from outside the Markovich Lab who provide datasets critical to project analyses may earn authorship on those contributions alone. Individuals providing substantial financial, administrative, or analytical support should also be considered for authorship on those merits.
Authors must provide feedback and revisions in a timely manner (e.g., 1–2 weeks). All coauthors should see and approve a manuscript prior to submission. Upon submission, all coauthors should be sent a copy of the final manuscript and cover letter. At decision time, the primary author should forward the decision and reviews to all coauthors. The primary author (or corresponding author, if they differ) is responsible for keeping all coauthors fully informed of manuscript progress.