Observational studyBMJ open2017
Thinker, Soldier, Scribe: cross-sectional study of researchers' roles and author order in the
Observational study in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Ten Years ofSports healthPooled it
- Global Trends in the Value of Author Order Across Medical Publications: A Cross-Sectional Bibliometric Study.Clinical and translational science · 2025Article
- Responsible artificial intelligence in healthcare: a systematic review on the use of ethical principles in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence.BMJ digital health & AI · 2025Article
- Disparities in Research during Plastic Surgery Training: How Can We Level the Playing Field?Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2022Article
- Article
- Awareness, usage and perceptions of authorship guidelines: an international survey of biomedical authors.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Comparison of the contributions of female and male authors to medical research in 2000 and 2015: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2019Article
- A look at the increasing demographic representation within behavioral medicine.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2019Article
- Patterns of authorship in ecology and evolution: First, last, and corresponding authorship vary with gender and geography.Ecology and evolution · 2018Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveHow researchers' contributions relate to author order on the byline remains unclear. We sought to identify researchers' contributions associated with author order, and to explore the existence of author profiles.
designObservational study.
settingPublished record.
participants1139 authors of 119 research articles published in 2015 in the PRIMARY OUTCOMES: Presence or absence of 10 contributions, reported by each author, published in the journal.
resultsOn average, first authors reported 7.1 contributions, second authors 5.2, middle authors 4.0, penultimate authors 4.5 and last authors 6.4 (p<0.001). The first author made the greatest contributions to drafting the article, designing the study, analysing and interpreting the data, and providing study materials or patients. The second author contributed to data analysis as well and to drafting the article. The last author was most involved in obtaining the funding, critically revising the article, designing the study and providing support. Factor analysis yielded three author profiles-
conclusionsFirst, second and last authors of research articles made distinct contributions to published research. Three authorship profiles can be used to summarise author contributions. These findings shed light on the organisation of clinical research teams and may help researchers discuss, plan and report authorship in a more transparent way.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.