Scientific integrity at Inserm, the authorship of scientific papers: good practices

You are perhaps directing, or participating in, a research project the results of which will be published in a scientific journal. Whether you are a researcher, an engineer, a technician or a student, the aim of this guide is to make you aware of the problems arising from conflicts over authorship, and to help you anticipate them. Inserm (the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research) expects its staff to publish the results of their research in the best scientific journals, and also encourages them to abide by the strictest ethical standards.

In this context, drawing up the list of co-authors of an article remains a sensitive subject, to which ethical rules are difficult to apply, especially given that researchers are mainly assessed on the basis of their name appearing in the articles and their position in the list of authors, attesting to the importance of their contribution to the joint effort involved. It is therefore a question of considerable importance for each participant, and this may create conflicts in research teams that can even block the entire publication process.