| Abstract: |
Formal attribution provides a means of recognizing scientific contributions as
well as allocating scientific credit. This paper examines the processes by
which attribution arises and its interaction with market assessments of the
relative contributions of members of scientific teams and communities – a
topic of interest organizational economics of science and in understanding
scientific labor markets. We demonstrate that a pioneer or senior scientist’s
decision to co-author with a follower or junior scientist depends critically
on market attributions as well as the timing of the co-authoring decision.
This results in multiple equilibrium outcomes each with different implications
for expected quality of research projects. However, we demonstrate that the
Pareto efficient organisational regime is for the follower researcher to be
granted co-authorship contingent on their own performance without any earlier
pre-commitment to formal attribution. We then compare this with the
alternative for the pioneer of publishing their contribution and being
rewarded through citations to back to it. While in some equilibria (especially
where co-authoring commitments are possible) there is no advantage to interim
publication, in others this can increase expected research quality. |