What do we know about marketing journal co-authorship?
Marketing Journal Co-authorship
Why do people co-author? This question surely occurs to every academic. Who hasn’t waited for a particularly tardy co-author to return a paper that you really must submit now. It is natural to think, ‘why’. Or maybe ‘WHY‘.
It is useful that scholars have investigated the reasons behind co-authorship. Schroeder, Langrehr, and Floyd (1995) surveyed marketing academics. The authors wanted understand academic’s thoughts on co-authorship. Some of the results won’t be very surprising to those with experience of academia. Free-riding, an academic not contributing his or her fair share, was a major source of unhappiness. That said, perceptions of who free-rode differed. Some thought it was Ph.D. students. These could be just taken along for the ride. A student thought that dissertation chairs “just edits” (Schroeder, Langrehr, and Floyd, 1995, page 56).
Long-distance collaborations caused problems. Out of sight definitely lead to being out of mind. (Nowadays we have better communication technology. Still, I’d guess that similar problems still occur if they are a little easier to solve with email or Skype).
What Makes For Success?
Complementary skills and mutual respect help make for a successful coauthorship. Indeed, at its best coauthorship improves the quality of the final product. Each coauthor brings unique and useful skills. There is a lot that goes into a paper. Often theory, stats, a catchy title. Sometimes, not often, clear writing. It is strange if someone is great at everything. Different people bring their own skills.
What Deserves A Credit?
What work is worthy of a co-author credit? This important question can cause considerable unhappiness. “Having the original idea” was thought to be the most important factor. “Managing the Manuscript” and “Collecting Data” were also relatively important. “Providing Funding” and “Providing Facilities” were not seen as that important. That is a shame for senior academics. They mostly have the money and facilities.
Pretty much all agreed that overall contribution, not seniority, should determine author order. Obviously, there is no guarantee that everyone will agree. We often have biased views of what we contribute. Non-tenured faculty thought the idea relatively less important than the “actual work”. This is likely because the non-tenured faculty will probably do more of the “actual work”. They may also have fewer of the ideas.
This paper is especially useful for junior faculty and Ph.D. students. Those who perhaps haven’t had a chance to learn the lessons of co-authorship themselves.
For more on academic productivity see here, here, and here.
Read: Dean M. Schroeder, Frederick W. Langrehr, and Steven Floyd (1995) Marketing Journal Co-Authorship: Is It A Hit Or A Miss With Co-Authors, Journal of Marketing Education, page 45-58