Authorship practices in educational technology research

Abstract

Authoring documents and academic articles is a key means by which researchers share new knowledge and is closely tied to academic progression, prestige for individuals and institutions, and continued funding of research. In this editorial we continue our discussion around ensuring quality research and publication practices, with a focus on authorship. There are concerning trends emerging around practices in relation to authorship across the publishing landscape. In the field of educational technology research, projects can involve teams of people in a variety of roles. This can result in a particular risk, that important contributions of learning designers and technologists are overlooked, despite their involvement in the creation of the tools tested, or the infrastructure with which we collect data. In this editorial we will consider the importance of authorship, explore the common issues related to how authorship is determined and represented, and relate the debate currently in play across different disciplines around authorship to our context of educational technology research. We will conclude by introducing our revised guidelines for authorship at AJET.