Workshop is your chance to influence the future of authorship at Health

According to Vice Dean Per Brøndsted Höllsberg, the workshop is a unique opportunity to influence how the faculty handles challenges with authorship on scientific publications. Photo: Jens Hartmann Schmidt

2 September 2025 by Jakob Binderup Christensen

Have you ever been in a dilemma about authorship? Felt overlooked on the list of authors, not received the recognition you thought you deserved, or wondered why certain names suddenly need to be included on your article?

In the fall, the faculty is holding a workshop on research integrity – with particular focus on authorship – and input from participants will go directly to faculty leadership.

"We want as much input as possible. The workshop is not just an academic exercise, as participants' observations will be collected and forwarded as a recommendation to faculty leadership about what we should do going forward," says Vice Dean for Research at Health Per Brøndsted Höllsberg.

Problem that affects everyone

The problems with authorship are both complex and widespread. It's not just about young researchers who feel overlooked, emphasizes Per Brøndsted Höllsberg.

"To a large extent, it's about aligning expectations, and the problem can go both ways – sometimes younger researchers don't understand the preparatory work behind a publication. Other times, it may be that senior researchers end up on the author list without having contributed substantially."

According to the vice dean, the consequences of the current mess with authorship can be serious.

"It risks undermining the way we evaluate research contributions if people get credit for others' work, or articles get into better journals based on prominent names rather than the quality of the research," he explains.

What happens at the workshop?

The vice dean therefore encourages researchers at all levels to participate in the workshop, which is offered in both Danish and English.

At the workshop, Dean Anne-Mette Hvas will present the new national code for research integrity. She has been Aarhus University's representative in the work at the national level.

Following this, the workshop will have a presentation on how research contributions to articles could be credited, after which participants will discuss in small groups across institutes and career levels. Chair of the Academic Council Søren Dinesen Østergaard will summarize the discussions and, together with the planning group from the faculty's institutes, will be responsible for translating all input into concrete recommendations for leadership.

The workshop is thus the first step in a decision-making process that should lead to better handling of authorship.

"The ultimate goal is that we become more conscious of 'fairness' in connection with authorship. That you don't give credit to those who shouldn't have it, and give it to those who should have it. Ultimately, it's about research articles being an essential product for documenting research and intellectual effort, and therefore they should be as credible as possible, including regarding the authors," says Per Brøndsted Höllsberg.

Read more about the two workshops and register via the links below:

Contact

Vice Dean for Research Per Brøndsted Höllsberg
Aarhus University, Health
Phone: +45 51362353
Email: pbh@au.dk