Identifying Effective Factors in Determining Authorship from the Viewpoints of Researchers at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences: A Qualitative Study

Background and Objectives: The correct determination of the authorship in a scholarly work is one of the major dimensions of intellectual property and plays a very important role in the assessment of the scientific outputs of countries, organizations and individuals. Therefore, the main objective of this study was identifying effective factors in determining authorship from the viewpoints of the researchers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

Material and Methods: The present study was carried out using qualitative research method and semi-structured interviews. The study population consisted of faculty members, editors-in-chief, editors of journals, reviewers of manuscripts and dissertations, researchers, and graduated students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The sampling was done by purposive sampling method. The interview was conducted with 27 eligible participants. The guidebook for interviewing was based on the Delvine-Gray study. The MAXQDA v10 software was used to analyze the findings.

Results: Findings of this study showed that the majority of the participants believed that, in addition to mentioning the names of those who have acquired to be an author, other factors (according to the rules and conventions governing the community), including the relationships between individuals, officials and personalities of individuals, facilitating the publication of a paper, monetary issues and hypothetical contracts between individuals, make the name of others included in the article.

Conclusion: The results of this study raise concerns that long-term relationships and interests between individuals may violate the principle of quality and scientific values of researchers and scientific works.