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Rethinking the comparison of coauthorship credit allocation schemes

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  • Kim, Jinseok
  • Kim, Jinmo

Abstract

This paper compares Fractional, Geometric, Arithmetic, Harmonic, and Network-Based schemes for allocating coauthorship credits. Each scheme is operationalized to be flexible in producing credit distribution by changing parameters, and to incorporate a special situation where the first and corresponding authors are assigned equal credits. For testing each scheme, empirical datasets from economics, marketing, psychology, chemistry, and medicine, were collected and errors in how each scheme approximates empirical data was measured. Results show that Harmonic scheme performs best overall, contrary to some claims of preceding studies in support of Harmonic or Network-Based models. The performance of a scheme, however, seems to heavily depend on empirical datasets and flexibility of the scheme, not on its innate feature. This study suggests that the comparison of coauthorship credit allocation schemes should be taken with care.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Jinseok & Kim, Jinmo, 2015. "Rethinking the comparison of coauthorship credit allocation schemes," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 667-673.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:9:y:2015:i:3:p:667-673
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2015.07.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Waltman, Ludo, 2016. "A review of the literature on citation impact indicators," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 365-391.
    5. Osório, António (António Miguel), 2019. "The value and credits of n-authors publications," Working Papers 2072/376026, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    6. Xie, Qing & Zhang, Xinyuan & Song, Min, 2021. "A network embedding-based scholar assessment indicator considering four facets: Research topic, author credit allocation, field-normalized journal impact, and published time," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).
    7. Ozerturk, Saltuk & Yildirim, Huseyin, 2021. "Credit attribution and collaborative work," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    8. António Osório, 2018. "On the impossibility of a perfect counting method to allocate the credits of multi-authored publications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 2161-2173, September.
    9. Hao Wang & Hua-Wei Shen & Xue-Qi Cheng, 2016. "Scientific credit diffusion: Researcher level or paper level?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 827-837, November.

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