Bit #31 – Authorship Order
Writing competencies fall into four categories: behavior, artisanal, social, and emotional. We need to strengthen each competency to enhance who we are as writers.
Today, we will look at one component of the social aspect. Writing can be an extremely isolated event, but it does not have to be (and should not be). Writing (and publishing) with others can be advantageous and rewarding if you have a good team. A good writing team involves people who complement each other and share writing responsibilities.
Side note…if you do not currently have a good writing team, find/create one. You will be amazed at how your writing productivity will grow.
Part of a writing team’s responsibility is to determine author order when a new project begins. Author order can be a sensitive and frustrating process if not done well (and at the beginning of the project).
The American Psychological Association (APA; https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2015/06/determining-authorship) created documents to help with determining author order (see below). I have used the “Authorship Determination Scorecard” most often. I appreciate having a formula for author order when working with more than two people. I have only used the other three documents (“Authorship Agreement,” “Authorship Tie-Breaker Scorecard,” and “Publication Contract”) when working with people I do not know well.
Nothing will ruin a writing relationship faster than author order (I speak from experience), so I hope you put these resources away somewhere to use when necessary.
