Editorial. Location, location, location : the position of authors in scholarly publishing

Authorship of scholarly articles in quality, peer reviewed publications is a quintessential aspect of academic life. Although, for some academics, teaching or administration, for example, may be the work focus, for the majority publishing is a key activity and performance measure. Where authorship involves an individual researcher or writer preparing a manuscript for publication, the authorship role is fairly straightforward, with the sole author taking responsibility for all aspects of preparing and submitting the paper for publication, and addressing issues that arise as a result of the peer review process. However, in the majority of papers, more than one person contributes and, while there are clear and authoritative guidelines on criteria for authorship published by respected sources such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html; accessed 14 December 2011), decisions on the order of authorship are less clear cut.