The authorship of research results and scientific publications in medical sciences

Abstract

Introduction. The article aims to present the rules for determining the authorship of research results and scientific pu­blications under intellectual property law and the applicable standards.

Materials and methods. The study is based on copyright law, national and international codes of ethical conduct in research and scientific publications, including the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and the guidelines for publication in medical journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Results and discussion. The standards for the attribution of authorship to scientific results under intellectual property law, the applicable guidelines and customs are not consistent. Strict rules for determining the status of an author based on their creative contribution within the meaning of copyright law do not correspond in full extent to the needs of the sciences, where almost every contribution to research, clinical trials, and the preparation of publications is appreciated. In practice, this may create conflicting situations as to the proper identification and indication of authorship and co-authors.

Conclusions. Among the standards for recognizing authorship, copyright standards prevail. A compromise solution be­tween the restrictive approach for attributing authorship (co-authorship) of works under copyright and the non-binding recommendation of the ethical codes, is to distinguish between the ‘authors’ and other ‘non-authors’ who contributed to the creation of work, thereby protecting the interests of all parties involved.