The term CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) is not unfamiliar in the world of scientific publication or academic authorship. This contributor role scheme has begun to be adopted by various leading journals as part of efforts to enhance transparency in scientific writing. The publisher Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science (IAES) has also integrated CRediT into its publication process. This article will further review the implementation of CRediT and its impact on the academic world.
What is CRediT?
CRediT or Contributor Roles Taxonomy is a system that encompasses 14 roles to describe the roles and contributions of authors or researchers involved in a research project.
The benefits of CRediT for various parties:
For researchers − it helps increase the visibility and recognition of their contributions. This can demonstrate the diversity of researchers’ contributions in a study.
For research institutions and funders − providing greater access to information about how and where the researchers they support are making a difference helps to support a more holistic view of research and research evaluation.
For publishers − having more information about ‘who did what’ provides accountability, supports research integrity and provenance checks – helping to ensure trust in research.
Each contributor can have more than one role, and one role can also be assigned to more than one person. All authors listed in the publication must have at least one CRediT role.
Role of CRediT
For journals that have adopted CRediT, authors will be required to include an accurate contribution statement in the manuscript. Each author must be involved in at least one core aspect of the research (such as conceptualization, methodology, analysis, or investigation) and one aspect of writing (drafting or editing), as well as approve the final manuscript. Here are 14 CRediT roles that explain the main contributions in scientific publications.
Figure 1. CRediT adopted by IAES
How is the role of CRediT displayed in journals published by IAES?
After the article is published, CRediT will be displayed in the manuscript in the “Author Contributions Statement” section. Here is an example of the CRediT display in the International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering article published by IAES.
Figure 2. Implementation of CRediT in the IJECE