AVMA Establishes Clear Authorship Criteria for Veterinary Research

The AVMA's guidelines align with the four-criteria framework used by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), specifying that qualifying authors must:

1. Make a significant contribution to the study's conception, design, data acquisition, or analysis and interpretation.

2. Play a role in drafting the manuscript or revising it for intellectual content.

3. Have the opportunity to approve the manuscript and any subsequent revisions.

4. Agree to be accountable for the data's validity and integrity.

All criteria must be satisfied; partial contribution does not qualify someone for authorship. Additionally, authors must complete a Copyright Assignment Agreement and Authorship Form, with the corresponding author responsible for ensuring all forms are submitted prior to publication.

Individuals not meeting all four criteria cannot be listed as authors and should instead be acknowledged. Common contributors that often find themselves in disputes include:

- **Funding-only Contributors**: Sponsors providing financial support without involvement in study design or analysis do not qualify for authorship. Their roles should be acknowledged with a disclosure statement in the acknowledgments section.

- **Referring Clinicians**: Those who refer cases without participating in the design or analysis are also excluded from authorship. They should be acknowledged unless their involvement extends to drafting or analyzing the manuscript.

- **Data-Collection Technicians**: Those who perform only technical tasks, like data collection or sample processing, without contributing to study design or manuscript preparation, should be acknowledged for their contributions instead of being credited as authors.

- **Statistical Consultants**: Statisticians who execute analyses but are not involved in the broader aspects of the study do not qualify for authorship under AVMA guidelines.

The AVMA's authorship standards are similar enough to ICMJE's framework to allow for consistent application across veterinary and general biomedical publishing, streamlining the process for researchers.

To navigate these guidelines effectively, veterinary research teams should determine authorship early, document the role of funders explicitly, and clarify the distinction between case supply and research participation. Authors should also use the completion of the Copyright Assignment Agreement as a checkpoint to ensure all criteria are met. Thus, thorough consultation of the current instructions for authors is crucial to maintaining compliance.