As a scientist, I generally agree with the need for multiple "authors", including people who had nothing to do with actually writing an article. However it does seem to have gotten a bit out of control and now people are listed as authors who should more correctly be listed in the Acknowledgments. As cavers, we do not follow this trend. Caving articles, even about whole expeditions, are usually authored by no more than three people, and usually just one or two. Typically every member of the expedition was important, and they should be mentioned by name in the text, but I don't think they should be listed as authors.
Geary, Long lists of authors have been a hallmark of physics papers for decades. I have a paper from 1989 (Physical Review Letters) with 188 authors. The list took up the entire first page of the article. And that was long before the CERN Large Hadron Collider came into being. As huge collaborations in physics and astronomy become more common, long author lists are, sadly, likely to become ever more common. Mark Minton mmin...@caver.net On Wed, August 31, 2016 1:46 pm, via Texascavers wrote: > That said, it is often the case that the relative value of an article is > inversely proportional to the number of authors cited. Given the current > frenzy to publish and be recognized for Pd work, it would not be > surprising if the number of authors exceeded the length of the article. > > Jerry Atkinson. > > On Wed, August 31, 2016 1:27 pm, Geary Schindel via Texascavers wrote: >> Diana, >> >> Very well said, I was thinking of replying also but you hit the nail on >> the head. Most research these days are a collaboration between many >> scientists and laboratories. I think the best example I've seen is some >> of the Super Collider work that might have 150 authors for a paper. >> >> Geary Schindel >> gschin...@edwardsaquifer.org >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Texascavers On Behalf Of Diana Tomchick via Texascavers >> Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 12:16 PM >> To: Cave Tex >> Subject: Re: [Texascavers] White-Nose Syndrome in PNW scientific article >> >> Let me clarify what constitutes authorship on a scientific article. >> >> It does not necessarily mean that a person wrote one of the paragraphs. >> In fact, in the future we may have artificial intelligence to thank for >> writing much of the routine text in our articles and technical manuals. >> >> It DOES mean that an author is a person that is responsible for one or >> more of the following: >> >> Coming up with the original idea (i.e., the hypothesis) for the >> experiment Collecting data Analyzing data Presenting data (in graphical, >> written or other forms such as videos, etc.) Supervising the people that >> collect, analyze and present the data Drawing important conclusions from >> the data and testing new hypotheses that result from this all-important >> step Writing the text of the final document >> >> You want and NEED all of these people to be listed as authors-as they >> are the ones that are legitimately responsible for the final published >> work. If there are any questions about what is presented in the work, >> everyone knows who is responsible. >> >> We call this transparency, which unfortunately is lacking in other >> important human endeavors. >> >> Diana >> >> ************************************************** >> Diana R. Tomchick >> Professor >> Departments of Biophysics and Biochemistry University of Texas >> Southwestern Medical Center >> 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. >> Rm. ND10.214A >> Dallas, TX 75390-8816 >> diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu >> (214) 645-6383 (phone) >> (214) 645-6353 (fax) >> >>> On Aug 31, 2016, at 11:59 AM, Cavers Texas wrote: >>> >>> Wow! Fourteen alleged authors for an article with eight paragraphs. >>> How many of those people do you think were really authors, i.e., >>> writers? How many of them were just bottle washers? -- Mixon _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
