Research is rarely completed alone – more often, multiple people collaborate on study design, data collection, analysis, writing, and the application of findings. An authorship agreement is an important document that allows key parties involved in a project to come to a mutual understanding of what it means to be an author of an article in a peer-reviewed journal.
Before starting the writing process, an authorship agreement should be in place. The aim is to ensure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and that credit and level of effort are equitable and established from the beginning. The document also outlines procedures for resolving any conflicts should they arise.
The following is a practical template for an authorship agreement for implementers looking to publish project results (or other efforts) in a peer-reviewed journal.