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Authorship Guidelines

It is essential that the researcher(s) and biostatistician(s) assigned to the project agree on criteria for authorship early in their collaboration to avoid any misunderstanding.

There is a general recognition for what constitutes a “scientific contribution” in the field of biostatistics:

  • The statistician has developed new statistical methods to meet the project's needs, and/or has combined existing techniques in a novel manner.
  • The statistician has participated in designing the study.
  • The statistician writes part of the manuscript describing which statistical methods were used and/or assists in writing other sections of the manuscript—including revisions.
  • The statistician is asked to review/critique an initial draft and spends time suggesting alternative wording and presentation of results.
  • The statistician provides data analysis along with interpretation of results.

MS and PhD biostatisticians should be listed as authors if any of the above criteria are met, in addition to receive appropriate remuneration for their services. If you neglect to appropriately include our biostatisticians on your published papers, you will no longer be able to use our services.