engleski

Statisticians' Contributions and Coauthorship in Published Articles

Objective: To analyze authorship contributions of trained or experienced statistician who participated in research or manuscript preparation. Summary: We analyzed statements on the involvement of trained or experienced statistician in research or manuscript preparation of articles submitted to and accepted for publication in the Croatian Medical Journal from May 2006 to July 2007 (n=126 articles). Out of 93 manuscripts declaring to contain numerical data and their statistical analysis, trained or experienced statistician participated in 87 of them. Frequency of contributions related to statistical calculations, data analysis and interpretation of results was expectedly high (92%, 90%, 80% respectively). Planning and designing of data collection forms and acquisition of data were least frequently reported categories (45% and 47% respectively). Out of 48 trained or experienced statistician who fulfilled authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, 44 were named as coauthors, whereas half (18/39) of undeserved authors found their place on the byline of the published article. Conclusions: Trained or experienced statistician almost always participate in research, but his or her contribution is often less then required for eligible authorship. Even so, research teams tend to value such participation as deserving a place on the manuscript byline.

authorship contribution; data analysis; statistician

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