How to do authorship?

[Naruto]

One of the courses I took for my masters degree was a research project where i wrote up a manuscript. 

I'm going to submit but I was confused about how to do the authorship. I worked with two other professors I met regularly throughout the semester who provided feedback and direction. However, none of them mentioned anything about authorship. I think this paper would be pretty insignifcant to them so i just assumed i would be the only author?

[xiphoid]

I would definitely discuss this with the profs, ideally the prof that was more involved in your project or Masters since they should be senior author. If it's being sent out to a peer-reviewed journal, authorship should be discussed even if you think it would be "pretty insignificant" to them.

[BienAgiter1]

Authorship is one of the most important components of research papers. It is not to be taken lightly.

Regardless of whether or not you think the paper might be insignificant to your professors, it's very important to do the authorship correctly because if you don't, it could be considered misappropriation of ownership or plagiarism. The order of authorship really coveys a lot in the research community and it is really rare to have only a single author that is a student on a research paper. For example, authors could include collaborators, if the research is supported by a grant then that would be included, a previous student that was involved in the design may also be given authorship, and most importantly, your supervisor or principal investigator will be on the manuscript as the senior (last author). I would suggest speaking to your supervisor about this before submitting the paper.

If you have any further questions you can send me a message.

 

[Naruto]

Thanks all. 

[Edict]

Most likely if they were involved in the design, implementation or review of the paper, you'd include them as an author. If they were there for psychological and social support, then probably not. I would discuss with them though, having a prof on your paper probably increases the chances of acceptance anyways. 

[IMislove]

 

Doing a manuscript as well, and were using an article which states :

 

2. Who Is an Author?
The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on
the following 4 criteria:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or de-
sign of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpre-
tation of data for the work; AND

2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for im-
portant intellectual content; AND

3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the
work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or

integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investi-
gated and resolved.