Scientific publications are not only a way to record the results obtained, but also contribute to the development of a scientist's career. Today, it is common to see scientific articles with two, three, or even more authors. This is because collective publications are becoming increasingly common in the modern scientific community, as this format of research has a number of advantages. What is co-authorship? How does it affect the receipt of grants? Let's have a look in our article.
What is co-authorship?
Co-authorship is the collective participation of several researchers in the creation of a single scientific project. Co-authors do not include reviewers, translators, editors, and other participants who did not directly participate in the research. Co-authorship involves the distribution of responsibilities among all authors, but regardless of the extent of their contribution, each of them has equal rights to the results of the joint work.
The order in which authors are listed usually depends on the significance of their contribution to the work. The scientist who made the greatest contribution is usually listed first, followed by the other authors in descending order of their participation. It is also worth adding that the recommended number of authors in a publication is 2-3 people. The maximum number of co-authors that journals usually allow publishing is 5 people.
What types of co-authorship are there?
There are two main types of co-authorship in a scientific article:
- Indivisible co-authorship. The study is a complete work, the individual parts of which have no independent meaning. The copyright belongs to all co-authors collectively, so none of them can use the materials without the consent of the others.
- Separate co-authorship. This format involves a clear definition of each participant's contribution. In this case, the scientific work consists of several parts created by different authors. Each of them can exist as an independent unit or be used separately at the discretion of its author, but together all parts form a single, coordinated and complete scientific work.
What are the advantages of co-authorship for science?
As we noted above, collaborative research has a number of advantages for both authors and science as a whole. These include the following:
- improved quality of scientific material
- combining knowledge from different fields to achieve better results
- expanding the reach of the target audience
- strengthening cooperation between scientists
- ensuring the depth and objectivity of research
How does co-authorship affect grant funding?
In Latvia, the main institution responsible for the implementation, selection and funding of research projects is the Latvian Council of Science (Latvijas Zinātnes padome – LZP). Research institutions, universities, laboratories, and scientific institutes registered in the Register of Research Organisations of the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science can apply for research funding.
It is worth noting that one of the important criteria that grantors mainly consider is the author's experience in participating in collaborative research. This demonstrates that the researcher is integrated into the global scientific community and understands scientific standards.
Joint publication is also mentioned in the document “National eligibility requirements” for obtaining grants. One of the requirements states that the applicant must have at least one publication where they are the first, last or other author, except of publications in journals (or disciplines) where authors are listed in alphabetical order.
Based on the above, co-authored research inspires greater confidence among grantors and sponsoring organisations. Such research combines the knowledge and experience of several specialists, which in most cases guarantees the reliability of the results and the high quality of the research. Co-authorship contributes to the active dissemination of work among the scientific community and increases the visibility of authors, which also has a positive impact on the image of the funding organisation.
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