title: Authorship issues at a New Zealand academic institution.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Authorship of peer-reviewed publications can create conflict among academics.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To document authorship conflicts of academics at a tertiary faculty.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous questionnaire eliciting authorship conflicts and knowledge of authorship criteria was administered online to 154 academic staff members at a New Zealand university.
  
  
  RESULTS
  43 academics responded, a response rate of 27.9%. About half of the academics reported authorship conflicts, mainly regarding ownership of data, gift authorship and academic competition. Of the 43 academics, 31 were aware of formal authorship criteria but only 21 could identify the appropriate source. 23 academics correctly identified all the appropriate criteria for authorship according to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors guidelines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Authorship conflicts are prevalent in a New Zealand university that may be related to lack of knowledge of authorship criteria.
authors.affiliation: Wellington Asthma Research Group, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, New Zealand.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mitcheson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Collings
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Siebers
mesh_terms: D001319:Authorship; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D032984:Ethics, Research; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand