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Credit where credit is due? The impact of project contributions and social factors on authorship and inventorship

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  • Haeussler, Carolin
  • Sauermann, Henry

Abstract

We examine the extent to which different types of substantive project contributions as well as social factors predict whether a scientist is named as author on a paper and inventor on a patent resulting from the same project. Using unique survey data from over 2000 life scientists, we find that the predictors of authorship differ from those of inventorship. A wider range of project contributions may result in authorship, and social factors appear to play a larger role in authorship decisions than in inventorship decisions. We also find evidence that project contributions and social factors interact in predicting authorship, suggesting that the two sets of factors should be considered jointly rather than seen as independent determinants of attribution. In addition to providing novel insights into the functioning of the authorship and inventorship system, our results have important implications for administrators, managers, and policy makers, as well as for innovation scholars who often rely on patents and publications as measures of scientists’ performance.

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  • Haeussler, Carolin & Sauermann, Henry, 2013. "Credit where credit is due? The impact of project contributions and social factors on authorship and inventorship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 688-703.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:42:y:2013:i:3:p:688-703
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2012.09.009
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    10. Shibayama, Sotaro & Lawson, Cornelia, 2021. "The use of rewards in the sharing of research resources," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    11. Lissoni, Francesco & Montobbio, Fabio & Zirulia, Lorenzo, 2013. "Inventorship and authorship as attribution rights: An enquiry into the economics of scientific credit," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 49-69.
    12. Michaël Bikard & Fiona Murray & Joshua S. Gans, 2015. "Exploring Trade-offs in the Organization of Scientific Work: Collaboration and Scientific Reward," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(7), pages 1473-1495, July.
    13. Walsh, John P. & Lee, You-Na, 2015. "The bureaucratization of science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8), pages 1584-1600.
    14. Petersen, Alexander M. & Pan, Raj K. & Pammolli, Fabio & Fortunato, Santo, 2019. "Methods to account for citation inflation in research evaluation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1855-1865.
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    20. Goossen, Martin C. & Paruchuri, Srikanth, 2022. "Measurement errors and estimation biases with incomplete social networks: replication studies on intra-firm inventor network analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    21. Pranith Kumar Roy & Krishnendu Shaw, 2022. "Developing a multi-criteria sustainable credit score system using fuzzy BWM and fuzzy TOPSIS," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 5368-5399, April.
    22. Sandra Cristina Oliveira & Juliana Cobre & Danilo Florentino Pereira, 2021. "A measure of reliability for scientific co-authorship networks using fuzzy logic," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(6), pages 4551-4563, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Guest authorship; Ghost authorship; Attribution; Social status; Project contributions; Patent–paper-pairs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • L30 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - General

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