Tentative guidelines for publications rights

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical formula for the calculation of contribution weights of individuals participating in a group research. The objective is to identify the most elements that lead to documented results of the investigation. It was found that these elements are: initiation of the research idea; execution of the research idea; services of the research idea; data analysis; and writeup. These steps of the research process are identified and discussed in the light of their importance for the production of a contribution measure. The difficult problem of giving credit to participants in the investigation is then addressed. A linear mathematical function is adopted to allow the quantification of individual contribution in every step of the investigation. We then defined a function called the degree of involvement and used a limit of this function that may be used to judge issues like publication rights, patents rights and the like. The paper presents an example for the calculation of this function.