Authorship Not Taught and Not Caught in Undergraduate Research Experiences at a Research University

Student Perceptions of Authoring a Publication Stemming from a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)

“…Defining the term "authorship" is difficult for undergraduates (Mabrouk, 2016), and in this study we established that this is true even for students who are published authors. Because authorship is not routinely discussed in research groups (Abbott et al, 2020), CUREs provide a potentially powerful way to educate students about authorship, which is a concrete step toward meeting the explicit goal of CURE developers to integrate principles of ethics/RCR into CUREs (Olimpo et al, 2017;Diaz-Martinez et al, 2019). When discussing authorship with students, we urge CURE instructors to be mindful of the language they use when describing their standards for authorship.…”

“…The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Academies of Science and Medicine have called for training individuals to understand responsible authorship and publication ethics (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017;NIH, 2019;NSF, 2020). However, it is unlikely that information about ethical authorship is being regularly integrated into the undergraduate curriculum (Abbott et al, 2020). One study of 68 undergraduates who were entering research programs in science and engineering found that more than one-third of students were unable to define the term "authorship."…”

“…Even after participating in a workshop on responsible conduct in research (RCR), about a quarter of students still struggled to define that term correctly (Mabrouk, 2016). Additionally, an in-depth interview study of 18 undergraduate researchers found that authorship was not routinely discussed in their research groups (Abbott et al, 2020). Specifically in the context of CUREs, the Ethics Network for Course-based Opportunities in Undergraduate Research has recently called for integrating curricula related to the principles of ethics/RCR into CUREs and highlighted authorship and authors' responsibilities as key topics that should be addressed within RCR curriculum (Olimpo et al, 2017;Diaz-Martinez et al, 2019).…”

“…One study of 68 undergraduates who were entering research programs in science and engineering found that more than one-third of students were unable to define the term “authorship.” Even after participating in a workshop on responsible conduct in research (RCR), about a quarter of students still struggled to define that term correctly ( Mabrouk, 2016 ). Additionally, an in-depth interview study of 18 undergraduate researchers found that authorship was not routinely discussed in their research groups ( Abbott et al. , 2020 ).…”

Meiosis in Quarantine discussions lead to an action plan to increase diversity and inclusion within the genetics community

“…We encourage lab leaders to set up undergraduate positions in a way to create opportunities to participate in research versus only lab grunt work (e.g., making plates, cleaning dishes) and provide authorship credit when they have contributed data and/or analysis. Underrepresented groups may not be aware that they deserve credit for their contributions and may not advocate for themselves [34].…”