Modeling Transparency in Roles: Moving from Authorship to Contributorship.

The Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy describes several principles for appropriate use of information, including “Information has value.” “Information has value” in operation means giving credit to the original ideas of authors and recognizing “the skills, time, and effort needed to produce knowledge.” College \u0026 Research Libraries wants to align itself with this principle by creating transparency around which authors contribute what valuable roles to its publications. Given the increasing number of coauthored articles in scholarly publishing, teasing apart who is responsible for what is a growing task in the evaluation of scholarly work. The journal, its editors, and the editorial board are making a concerted effort to model these values, while still maintaining high standards and impartiality. We are also seeking to evolve the journal and be responsive to the climate around ethics, bias, and openness—and the editorial board members have been heavily engaged in this effort. Hand in hand with this priority to bring transparency to the reviewer process and decision making, there has also been discussion about how to advocate for more transparency in author roles and assigning credit. From my perspective as editor, more clarity and openness around the contributors to paper submissions may provide a better understanding of the project described, but also a more accurate picture of how individuals contributed. Having a model that is more inclusive about contributor roles and the expectations of authorship would also minimize the questions or issues that periodically arise with submissions. I have discussed some of these issues and the potential solutions in previous editorials. Adoption of author role guidelines can only encourage more thoughtful discussion with authors that will reduce the possibility of confusion or conflict.