The following recommendations are based on discussions with the EGSH Program Board and the PhD Council in 2014.
1. Agree on the division of labour, the expectations about co-authorship and author order beforehand as much as possible, and make it part of the teaching and supervision plan that you sign with your PhD candidate.
2. In case of a joint publication that will be part of the PhD thesis, the PhD candidate should be the first author because the thesis should testify to his or her ability to conduct research in a largely independent manner.
3. Take into consideration who did most of the work:
It is fair practice to list the authors in the order of who did most of the work. In case of an equal division of labour, the order can be simply alphabetical, but then make sure you include a footnote that says the order does not reflect a difference in contribution.
4. It is common and fair practice to include the supervisor in publications of the PhD candidate:
a. If the supervisor defined the project and acquired the grant for the PhD position;
b. If the PhD candidate is using data collected by the supervisor.
In those cases the supervisor is usually listed as the second or last author.
5. If the PhD candidate defined her or his own research topic, the inclusion of the supervisor as a co-author in publications should depend on the quantity and quality of the contribution:
a. If the supervisor did not contribute to the specific article, inclusion as an author is unwarranted;
b. If the supervisor’s contribution did not exceed normal supervision tasks, inclusion is unwarranted;
c. If the supervisor contributed an original question, idea or concept, inclusion as a second or last author is fair.
6. Supervisors need to include PhD candidates as authors in their publications when:
a. They base their writing on the data collected independently by the PhD candidate;
b. The PhD candidate contributed significantly to theory and concept development;
c. The PhD candidate effectively wrote sections of the article.
7. In case of doubt, the supervisor and PhD candidate should discuss the problem and try to resolve it. They could ask for advice from the relevant faculty or board. A PhD candidate who feels she or he has been treated unfairly in this respect, can ask advice from the EGSH confidential counsellor.