Ana Ivaniš

Quantification of Authors’ Contributions and Eligibility for Authorship: Randomized Study in a General Medical Journal

BACKGROUNDAssessment of authorship contribution is often based on unreliable questionnaires.OBJECTIVETo assess if the use of different formats for the disclosure of authorship contributions influences authors’ compliance with the criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).DESIGNRandomized study.PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTSEight hundred sixty-five authors of 181 manuscripts submitted to the Croatian Medical Journal from January to July 2005 were randomly allocated into 2 groups: 456 authors (94 manuscripts) received an ordinal rating form to rate their contributions to the submitted manuscript in 12 categories on a scale from 0 (none) to 4 (full), whereas 409 authors (87 manuscripts) received a binary rating form to tick the categories in which they made a contribution.RESULTSThe ordinal rating form identified twice as many authors (87.9%) as meeting the ICMJE criteria than the binary rating form (39.2%, P < .001). The group answering the ordinal rating form also had 5 times more manuscripts (71.6%) with all authors meeting the ICMJE criteria than the binary rating form group (15.5%, P < .001). The fraction of authors who reported contributions on each item on the binary rating form was similar to the fraction of authors who reported at least moderate participation to the same items on the ordinal rating form except “Final approval of the article.”CONCLUSIONSOrdinal scales for reporting authors’ contributions to manuscripts were more sensitive than tick boxes for assessing the appropriateness of authorship. The exception is “Final approval of the article,” which should be considered a dichotomous variable and may not be appropriate for the ICMJE definition of authorship.

Perceptions of authorship criteria: effects of student instruction and scientific experience

Objective: To analyse medical students’, graduate students’ and doctors’ and medical teachers’ perceptions of research contributions as criteria for authorship in relation to the authorship criteria defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Design: Medical students with (n = 152) or without (n = 85) prior instruction on ICMJE criteria, graduate students/doctors (n = 125) and medical teachers (n = 112) rated the importance of 11 contributions as authorship qualifications. They also reported single contributions eligible for authorship, as well as acceptable combinations of two or three qualifying contributions. Results: Conception and design, Analysis and interpretation and Drafting of article formed the most important cluster in all four groups. Students without prior instruction rated Critical revision and Final approval lower than the other three groups. “Final approval” was a part of the least important cluster in all groups except among students with instruction. Conclusions: Conception and design, Analysis and interpretation and Drafting of article were recognised as the most important of the ICMJE criteria by all participants. They can be considered independent of previous instruction or experience. Final approval and Critical revision should be actively taught as important authorship criteria to future scientists.

Representation of journals from five neighboring European countries in the Journal Citation Reports

This study explores the representation of scientific journals from Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro in the Thomson Scientific’s 2005 Journal Citation Reports (JCR). The number of journals covered by JCR was analyzed in relation to scientific productivity of selected countries and the size of their economies, and no apparent relationship between these factors was found. Our findings suggest that other factors, including the quality of individual journals, may influence how many journals a country will have in the JCR.

Survey of attitudes towards curriculum reforms among medical teachers in different socio-economic and cultural environments

Background: Curriculum reforms in medical schools require cultural and conceptual changes from the faculty. Aims and Methods: We assessed attitudes towards curriculum reforms in different academic, economic, and social environments among 776 teachers from 2 Western European medical schools (Belgium and Denmark) and 7 medical schools in 3 countries in post-communist transition (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). The survey included a 5-point Likert-type scale on attitudes towards reforms in general and towards reforms of medical curriculum (10 items each). Results: Teaching staff from medical schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina had a more positive attitude towards reforms of medical curriculum (mean score 36.8 out of maximum 50 [95% CI 36.1 to 37.3]) than those from medical schools in Croatia or Slovenia (30.7 [29.8 to 31.6]) or Western Europe (27.7 [27.1 to 28.3]) (P < 0.001, ANOVA). Significant predictors of positive attitudes towards medical curriculum reform in post-communist transition countries, but not in Western European schools, was younger age, as well as female gender in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Conclusions: Factors influencing faculty attitudes may not be easy to identify and may be specific for different settings. Their identification and management is necessary for producing sustainable curriculum reform.