How to navigate authorship of scientific manuscripts May. 6, 2021 , 1:35 PM “There hasn’t been any point during my career when recognition through authorship has not been essential,” says Martin Rolfs, a professor in experimental psychology at the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany. As a Ph.D. student and postdoc, a good publication record was crucial for proving himself capable of successful and independent research and securing that next academic job. Now as a principal investigator (PI), “I need publications to ensure the visibility of my lab, to attract good students, and to continue to secure funding.” The importance of publications won’t come as news to anyone who has been in academia for a while. Still, Rolfs’s comments underscore the importance of not just doing good science, but also ensuring you receive appropriate recognition for it—particularly when it comes to authorship. For early-career researchers, in particular, it can be difficult to assess what contributions to a project warrant authorship, and negotiating a fair spot on the author list may feel like walking a tightrope. But, Rolfs emphasizes, because there is a snowball effect whereby “academia rewards those that have been rewarded in the past … getting credit for contributions could not be more important for early-career researchers.”