Less Work, Less Respect: Authors ’ Perceived Importance of Research Contributions and Their Declared Contributions to Research Articles

Background: Attitudes towards authorship are connected with authors ’ research experience and with knowledge of authorship criteria of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The objective of this study was to assess association between authors ’ perceived importance of contributions for authorship qualification and their participation in manuscripts submitted to a journal. Methods: Authors (n=1181) of 265 manuscripts submitted to the Croatian Medical Journal were asked to identify and rate their contribution in the preparation of the submitted manuscript (0 – none to 4 – full for 11 listed contributions) and the importance of these contributions as authorship qualifications (0 – none to 4 – full). They were randomly allocated into 3 groups: the first (n=90 manuscripts, n=404 authors) first received the contribution disclosure form and then contribution importance-rating questionnaire; the second (n=88 manuscripts, n=382 authors) first received the rating questionnaire and then the contribution disclosure form, and the third group (n=87 manuscripts, n=395 authors) received both questionnaires at the same time. We compared authors ’ perception of importance of contribution categories. Results: 1014 (85.9%) authors of 235 manuscripts responded. Authors who declared contribution to a specific categor