The Role, Importance and Types of Co-authorship in Scientific Articles Scopus/Web of Science
Scopus/Web of Science – these are huge databases that include content from various disciplines. Scopus and Web of Science contain many millions of records of scientific publications. If you publish an article on these platforms, you can open up new prospects for yourself, for example, get a boost to career development, prepare for a dissertation defense, confirm your title. By publishing your work in Scopus/Web of Science, you place it in the largest universal abstract database and receive recognition and fame.
Types of co-authorship in scientific articles
Most published scientific articles are prepared in co-authorship. In this case, scientists work on the material collectively. There are 2 types of co-authorship: indivisible and divisible.
Benefits of co-authored publishing
The criteria for selecting scientific publications for Scopus and Web of Science are quite strict. They must have international authority and pass expert selection. Therefore, the requirements for scientific articles in journals indexed in Scopus/Web of Science are high.
What are the requirements for publication?
Scopus/Web of Science scientific articles must meet formal, legal, linguistic criteria, have a correct structure and formatting of bibliographic references, and be written in high-quality English.
The article review process can take 6 months or longer. Some articles do not pass the selection and are rejected. Thus, publication in journals from the Scopus/Web of Science database is not an easy task.
How much does it cost to publish an article?
Publication of a scientific article in journals from the Scopus/Web of Science database has its own price. It depends on the specific journal and its access mode. If the journal is not freely available and is financed by readers, then the publication of scientific articles in it is usually free. Financing of an open access journal is carried out by authors. Therefore, the publication of most articles is on a paid basis. The cost of publication can vary from 50 to 1000 dollars.
Why is co-authorship beneficial?
Scientists in the West consider co-authorship more rational than single authorship. In this way, they can show several points of view, comparing approaches, research results or contrasting them. The material is worked out more thoroughly, a larger volume of information is covered, and preparation takes less time. Co-authorship allows for the preparation of higher-quality material.
You can become a co-author if you invite a colleague from your country or a foreign scientist with the same interests in science to work together. You will be able to create an article at the intersection of several sciences, with each author being responsible for a certain part of the work.
Even a novice scientist will be able to add Scopus and Web of Science articles to his credit, accessible to the global scientific community, if his co-author is a researcher with great authority. In addition, and this is important, the costs required to publish research in Scopus or Web of Science will be shared.
Many scientists offer to sell co-authorship in their works to Scopus for money. The service has proven to be quite popular due to several reasons:
- lack of time to prepare scientific articles;
- requirements to have publications in Scopus/Web of Science in order to defend a dissertation and receive a title;
- opportunities to gain the desired status and career advancement through placement in Scopus.
Ethical standards of co-authorship
Violations of ethical standards arise when decisions are made on the inclusion of researchers as co-authors, determining their personal contribution, which in turn is associated with a violation of the correct sequence of publication of their names, and the exclusion of individuals from the number of authors.
Common ethical violations involved:
- the problem of "ghost authorship" - a person who made a significant contribution was not listed as an author;
- “honorary” – in which the author was a person who did not take a significant part in the work, but was included in the list due to career considerations (managers);
- "guest authorship" - in this case, the authors included people whose names could increase the chances of publication.
Principles of co-authorship in scientific articles Scopus/Web of Science
The principles of co-authorship in Scopus/Web of Science are based on the values of academic ethics: honesty, transparency, fairness. It is necessary to take into account the universal values of democracy and respect for labor. All researchers are equal when solving scientific issues.
In the 90s, a “contribution” model emerged that makes it possible to show the authors’ contribution as transparently as possible.
Scopus and Web of Science co-authors include those who have made a significant contribution to the work, developed the concept, generated ideas, prepared the structure, performed the analysis, interpreted the data, systematized the material, wrote the text of the article, or made important changes.
There are several approaches to determining the order of Scopus authors' names: alphabetical order, order of decreasing contribution to the work, indicating only the first and last of the authors, indicating names according to the percentage of their participation in the study. Ethical standards give the main, leading role to the author who is listed first.
Become a co-author on Scopus or Web of Science articles you can, using the services of our company. We fulfill all ethical requirements for such publications and offer scientists favorable terms of cooperation.
