Coauthorship Practices, Motivations, and Ethical Applications in Clothing and Textiles Research

The researchers investigated coauthorship practices, motivations, and ethical applications among clothing and textiles (C&T) researchers. An email invitation was sent to all registered members of the International Textiles and Apparel Association (ITAA) with a URL for accessing the survey. Most of the 80 participants were tenured or tenure-track faculty members in the United States who had published an average of five coauthored articles in the past 5 years. The findings showed that C&T researchers engaged in coauthorship primarily to improve the overall quality of their work by combining complementary skills and pursuing joint ideas and common interests. The overall contribution to the manuscript was the primary rule that was used to determine the order of listing authors. Although they were generally satisfied with their most recent coauthorship experience, some researchers had experienced problems with inappropriate authorship. The findings of this study suggest the need to formulate guidelines related to coauthorship and order of authorship in publishing research in C&T.