Identification of factors that influence authorship name placement and decisions to collaborate in peer-reviewed, education-related publications

In many universities authorship credit plays an important role in academic decision-making, such as for tenure and promotion. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence the placement of names in coauthored works in specific education-related journals, and to identify perceived benefits of single and coauthored publications. Results indicate that both contribution amount and idea origination were typically used to determine name placement, but respondents also noted that authorship credit was assigned based upon other criteria, such as seniority and assistance to colleagues. A number of benefits for both sole and coauthored publications were also found.