Regulating Authorship Fairly and Transparently

Authorship is the currency in which science trades. It builds trust in research and shapes academic careers. It is therefore important that everyone who makes a significant contribution to a publication is fully and fairly acknowledged as an author. UZH has now established clear guidelines for this.

“The guidelines on authorship complement and substantiate UZH’s Integrity Ordinance. They promote a culture of fairness and transparency. This benefits science as a whole, but early-career researchers in particular,” says Elisabeth Stark, Vice President Research at UZH.

Previously, the following applied at UZH: anyone who makes a substantial contribution to a scientific paper should be listed as an author. This rule is stated in the Integrity Ordinance, and it remains in force. However, a clear definition of what constitutes a “substantial contribution” has now also been introduced. To establish authorship, the contribution must be included in a self-authored section of the resulting publication. Significant contributions to a scientific paper include conceiving of or developing the research project, collecting or acquiring data, software or sources, as well as analyzing or interpreting the results and the conclusions drawn from them.

Anyone who makes a significant contribution to a research project must have the opportunity to add their own passages to the manuscript and to approve the final version. Both of these criteria must be fulfilled for someone to be named as an author.

In addition, the new guidelines stipulate what information on the authors’ institutional affiliation should be provided, how to describe their role in the publication, and the order in which they should be named.

Differentiated guidelines for authorship are necessary because research projects are growing in complexity and require the involvement of a greater number of people. As research activities become more specialized, experts from different disciplines are increasingly coming together to collaborate on projects. Additionally, more and more teams are spread across different institutions and even countries. This increases the need for uniform guidelines on who should and should not be named as an author. “To fairly and transparently assess authorship claims, we need more precise criteria than we’ve had until now,” says Elisabeth Stark.

The new guidelines are particularly important for researchers in the early stages of their careers. “They rely on transparent processes, especially because they often work in dependent positions,” explains Stark. “Clear rules ensure that their intellectual contributions are recognized and made visible.”

A lack of regulations is detrimental to scientific careers. This was shown by an international study, in which Mary Hausfeld from the UZH Center for Leadership in the Future of Work took part. Early-career researchers, in particular women, are disproportionately affected by a lack of transparent authorship.

“Clear guidelines on authorship are essential to ensuring that scientific contributions are recognized fairly,” says Hausfeld. “By adopting these new authorship guidelines, UZH is reinforcing its commitment to research integrity and equitable career opportunities for researchers.”

A unique aspect of the new UZH guidelines is that they also take academic support services into account. Many projects benefit from the invaluable advice or active support of experts who do not meet the criteria for authorship. These contributions should also be recognized, for example in the acknowledgments.

Paolo Nanni, head of the Proteomics Unit at the Functional Genomics Center Zurich, welcomes the new regulations because they promote recognition of input that often goes unnoticed. “The new guidelines help ensure that important scientific and methodological contributions from technology platforms are recognized and made visible in publications,” he says.

The guidelines were commissioned by the Office of the Vice President Research. Claudine Leysinger, head of the Graduate Campus, was in charge. Martin Hanselmann, head of the Research Integrity Coordination Office, Andrea Malits, head of Open Science Services at the University Library, and Monika Zwicky, professor of genetics, who is the academic integrity officer in cases of suspected misconduct, were also involved. After consulting the faculties, the new guidelines were adopted by the Executive Board of the University in April 2025.

They are based on the Code of Conduct for Scientific Integrity from the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, which is rooted in the principles of reliability, honesty, respect and responsibility. Recommendations from the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and examples from other universities also played a role.

To ensure that the guidelines are applied to everyday university life, UZH is supporting their introduction with targeted measures. A best practice workshop is set to take place one year after the guidelines come into force. In addition, the Graduate Campus and the Research Integrity Coordination Office will support researchers with implementing the new guidelines.