Manuscript PreparationHome > General Business Practices > Manuscript Preparation
Timing:Sufficient time is needed for the biostatistician to write or review the statistical methods and the results section of a manuscript or abstract. Whether the biostatistician writes or reviews these sections in a manuscript is determined by the level of collaboration. Thus, communication between the project investigator and the biostatistician is essential in order to meet specific deadlines. Generally two weeks are required for the biostatistician to write their section of the manuscript; however, four weeks may be needed for more complex analyses. Regardless, final versions of manuscripts and abstracts must be reviewed and approved before submission.Authorship:Occasionally there is concern about whether or not the biostatistician should be a co-author on the manuscript. It is our policy that the biostatistician (both PhD and MS) should be listed as a co-author if there has been a scientific or an intellectual contribution to the research and not be listed in the acknowledgments. If this is going to be an issue with the project investigator, then an agreement with the biostatistician on authorship of any resulting manuscripts should be decided during the initial phases of the project.The following definition of a scientific contribution is based on published guidelines by Robert A. Parker and Nancy G. Berman: "Criteria for Authorship for Statisticians in Medical Papers." Statistics in Medicine 17: 2289-2299 (1998). They list the following as examples of scientific contribution:
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