Traditional scientific authorship has long been synonymous with recognition and hierarchy. However, in an era marked by inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, and growing demands for transparency, this notion is becoming increasingly insufficient.
The CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system offers a concrete alternative: to identify and declare fourteen distinct roles that individuals can play in a publication, ranging from conceptualization to data curation, including writing, analysis, and supervision.
This not only highlights the diversity of scholarly contributions, but also helps address unethical practices such as guest authorship, meaning the inclusion of someone as an author who has not made a substantial contribution to the work—whether due to hierarchy, institutional prestige, or convenience. Moreover, adopting CRediT opens the door to refining bibliometric indicators, such as those aimed at more accurately identifying genuine research leadership, since not all disciplines follow the same authorship hierarchies, such as prioritizing the first or last author positions.
At the International Journal of Open Science, we have adopted CRediT as part of our editorial policy. We invite our current and future authors to become familiar with this model, which we consider a step toward a more just, open, and collaborative science.
Learn more about CRediT:
https://credit.niso.org/