Abbott Lauren E, Andes Amy, Pattani Aneri C, Mabrouk Patricia Ann
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2020 Oct;26(5):2555-2599. doi: 10.1007/s11948-020-00220-6. Epub 2020 May 14.
This grounded study investigated the negotiation of authorship by faculty members, graduate student mentors, and their undergraduate protégés in undergraduate research experiences at a private research university in the northeastern United States. Semi-structured interviews using complementary scripts were conducted separately with 42 participants over a 3 year period to probe their knowledge and understanding of responsible authorship and publication practices and learn how faculty and students entered into authorship decision-making intended to lead to the publication of peer-reviewed technical papers. Herein the theoretical model for the negotiation of authorship developed through the analysis of these interviews is reported. The model identifies critical causal and intervening conditions responsible for the coping strategies faculty and students employ, which, in our study, appear to often produce unfortunate consequences for all involved. The undergraduate student researchers and their graduate student mentors interviewed in this study exhibited a limited understanding of authorship and the requirements for authorship in their research groups. The power differential between faculty and students, the students' limited epistemic development, the busy-ness of the faculty, and the faculty's failure to prioritize authorship have been identified as key factors inhibiting both undergraduate and graduate students from developing a deeper understanding of responsible authorship and publication practices. Implications for graduate education and undergraduate research are discussed, and strategies for helping all students to develop a deeper understanding of authorship are identified.
这项扎根研究调查了美国东北部一所私立研究型大学中，教员、研究生导师及其本科门生在本科研究经历中的署名权协商情况。在三年时间里，分别对42名参与者进行了使用补充脚本的半结构化访谈，以探究他们对负责任署名和发表实践的知识与理解，并了解教员和学生如何参与旨在发表同行评审技术论文的署名决策。本文报告了通过对这些访谈进行分析而得出的署名权协商理论模型。该模型确定了导致教员和学生采用应对策略的关键因果条件和干预条件，在我们的研究中，这些策略似乎常常给所有相关人员带来不幸的后果。本研究中接受访谈的本科学生研究人员及其研究生导师，对其研究团队中的署名权及署名要求了解有限。教员与学生之间的权力差异、学生有限的认知发展、教员的忙碌以及教员未将署名权列为优先事项，已被确定为阻碍本科生和研究生更深入理解负责任署名和发表实践的关键因素。文中讨论了对研究生教育和本科研究的启示，并确定了帮助所有学生更深入理解署名权的策略。
