The named authors are those who have made substantial contributions to the paper. Generally, the conductor and author of experiments is the first author. Generally, the designer (instructor) of an experiment (such as a supervisor or the leader of a scientific research team (project)) can be the corresponding author. It’s graduation season, and many graduate students are busy writing their thesis. I would like to talk about my personal views on the issue of signature when publishing academic papers. The signature of a paper is a very important issue. Signing is firstly an honor to share the results, and secondly, it is a responsibility. Often, misunderstandings, misunderstandings or conflicts can easily occur if matters involving fame and wealth are not handled properly. What seems to be a simple signature issue is sometimes very difficult to implement in practice. We know that today’s scientific research is no longer an era in which one person works alone. Large scientific research projects such as brain research, human genomics, global climate change research, etc. require cooperation between scientists, academic groups at home and abroad, etc. This can only be accomplished through collaboration between scientists. The number of signatures on such a paper is also increasing. It is not new for some international collaborative research projects to have dozens or even hundreds of signatures on papers. So how to order signatures? Signature principles: Take experimental biology as an example. The person who is signed on the paper should be the person who has made substantial (or major) contributions in the entire process of experimental design, data collection, data analysis, and paper writing. According to convention, as the conductor of the experiment and the author of the paper, he should naturally be the first author of the paper, such as graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, some young scholars, etc. The tutor or the designer of the project (topic, experiment), the person who is mainly responsible for the main body of the paper is generally the corresponding author and is listed at the bottom of the ranking. Anyone who has been contacted to do postdoctoral work abroad knows that often the last author of a paper is often the person in charge of the laboratory. Author ordering between the first and last author can be based on actual contribution to the paper. The author of the paper should be familiar with the details and main conclusions of the paper and agree to publish it, and be able to answer questions and doubts about the paper from readers and others. Since it is sometimes difficult to quantify the contribution to a paper, it is best to discuss the order of signatures of the authors of the paper before starting the experiment. If the principles and related arrangements for signatures could be explained clearly earlier, unnecessary disputes would not arise in the future. For some important papers, the contributions of multiple authors are equivalent and can be treated as joint first authors, but being joint corresponding authors is relatively rare. Those who contributed to the experimental process (such as experimenters, animal keepers, etc.) but did not reach the level of being an author and provided general help in the writing process of the paper (such as assisting in reviewing literature and analyzing data) are included in the paper. Acknowledgments are required. Some special circumstances also need to be considered, such as some providing important academic ideas and design ideas for a certain study; some providing indispensable experimental materials in experiments; some providing important experimental equipment necessary for research; and other similar situations. , if the party (party) proposes to be signed as the author of the paper, it can be considered. Of course, some of them have been discussed and decided before the experiment started, so there will be no such trouble. Responsibility of the author: It must be emphasized that in addition to sharing the honor of the results, the author named on the paper is also responsible for the authenticity of the results of the paper. If there is no special division of labor in the paper, if problems arise in the published paper, such as inaccurate data, plagiarism, plagiarism and other academic misconduct, all authors must bear relevant responsibilities. Some journals now require authors to sign before publication, indicating that they have read and agreed to the data and conclusions in the published paper. Some journals stipulate that the corresponding author can represent all authors. Some publications require a clear description of each author's responsibilities and contributions, such as who collected the data; who designed the experiments, who conducted the experiments; who participated in discussions, who performed data analysis; who wrote the paper, etc. A few days ago, Nature published a statement issued by Nobel Prize winner Linda B. Buck and co-author ***, retracting a paper they published in Nature in 2001. The statement said: "They found that the data in the 2001 paper There are conflicts with the original data.

"The article indicates the contribution of each author. The original text is as follows: Author Contributions: L.B.B.and L.F.H., conceived the project, L.F.H.and J.- P.M.prepared gene-targeting constructs to generate the mice (Prepare necessary experimental materials), S.S.trained Z.Z.in gene-targeting techniques (responsible for technical training), Z.Z.prepared and analyzed the mice and provided all figures and data for the paper (implemented experiments, obtained data, provided data and charts) , and L.B.B.and Z.Z.wrote the paper (writing). Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to L.B.B (corresponding author is Linda B.Buck). Irregular signature: At this stage, there is indeed a problem of irregular signature of papers in China. , some are due to ignorance of the rules, and some are due to other reasons: 1. Named casually; regardless of whether they have contributed to the paper, as long as they are in a laboratory or a member of a research group, each member will sign his name on almost every paper. . This can increase the number of papers published by each person. 2. Leader's name: Sometimes some researchers put the leader's name on some papers in order to "coat up" with certain leaders or officials who have resources. Relevant leaders implicitly or actively request to be named. 3. Celebrities are used to name their names: Sometimes some scholars forcibly transfer the names of some highly knowledgeable scholars (such as academicians, etc.) without seeking the consent of the parties in order to facilitate the review or publication of the paper. Names (some may be their supervisors, etc.) 4. Names for professional title promotion; some people name papers without any contribution for the sake of professional title evaluation; 5. Forcibly name names; some project leaders or laboratories. Leaders force their names to be signed on all papers in the laboratory. 6. Buy names for certain purposes; for example, when high-quality papers are urgently needed for school evaluation and doctoral application, they use money to buy and sign papers. 7. Noting for the purpose of graduation and degree: In order to meet the requirements of the unit for obtaining a degree, some students are eager to graduate and obtain a degree and put their name on articles that they have not contributed to. Things to note by tutors and graduate students: due to certain interests (such as assessment, etc.) ), some graduate students publish their master's work in the name of the institution where they studied for the doctoral degree; or they sign the name of their doctoral supervisor; or they do not include the name of their master's supervisor in the paper, etc. This is very wrong. Everyone Both supervisors and graduate students must take these matters seriously. First of all, the property rights of the paper (results) belong to the original unit (the unit that received project support). Master's students must respect the work of their supervisors and not be too "snobbish". In the same way, after a doctoral student graduates, all data produced during the doctoral period must be published in the name of the original institution. The doctoral supervisor should be one of the authors (if the supervisor is responsible, he should generally be the corresponding author), and the original institution must be the first property owner. unit. "Visiting graduate students" problem: Due to the expansion of enrollment, some tutors have no research funds and no topics. Graduate students look for mentors who can provide experimental conditions and financial support. These students are called "guest graduate students." What’s incredible is that the student’s original institution clearly stipulates that these graduate students must be the first author of papers published and signed by the first institution before they can apply for a degree from the school. It is really hard to understand that there is no research funding, no research ideas, experimental conditions, etc., waiting to enjoy the results, and there is still such a request? I wonder how such a policy can be issued? Which professors just agree? Regardless of the reputation and influence of the school? The problem of "multiple professors": Today, there are many problems with a paper being linked to many units. One is because there are too many part-time, "amphibious" professors and scholars; the other is due to the actual interest relationship. . Take a look at some of the so-called "independent innovation" high-quality papers in my country. In fact, they are the results of work done in foreign laboratories. Since he works part-time in a domestic unit (chair professor or the like), this scholar's name will have Two or even more units. There are also some scholars who, purely to increase the number of papers, put their name on papers that have nothing to do with their major. The same is true for the signatures of domestic "Professor Duoqi"'s papers. As a graduate student, you should also understand the issue of attribution of results: if the research projects, academic ideas and overall experimental design you are engaged in are completed (or are responsible for completion) by your tutor or laboratory leader, no matter how important the results are, , even if it is a Nobel Prize-winning result, the result should belong to this laboratory, your mentor or project leader. Of course, the contributions made by graduate students cannot be forgotten. It should be admitted that many things in our country are being improved and some norms are being established.

In the past, some things were indeed unknown (it is not an exaggeration to be ignorant), and some were driven by interests. For example, during performance appraisal, some units stipulated that the author with the highest signature would be assigned a higher score, and the corresponding author would also be assigned according to the ranking order. point. In this way, some corresponding authors' signatures appear in the middle or front position. These phenomena were common in the past few years and still exist now, but they have gradually become less common. As long as everyone understands the relevant rules and the relevant policies are gradually improved and reasonable, things will naturally be on track. However, it is a serious violation of academic regulations for leaders to arbitrarily decide the order of authors and for supervisors to gift the first author of a paper to someone at will.