A tool for valuing contributions in teams

Working in teams can be some of the most stimulating, exciting, and important experiences we have. At other times things can get a bit sticky — for example when it comes to attributing rewards, such as deciding authorship and authorship order on publications. Proactive planning and assessment of contributions can help, alongside a collaboration agreement.

The web application for valuing contributions in teams summarises the contributions a team can report in the associated Google Sheet. Below is a bit more detail about the problems it addresses and how.

In the Google Sheet, you:

• Enter the project information you have so far; update as required.
• Enter your team members by name.
• Enter the contributions made by each team member on the contributions sheet.

Problems and solutions in team projects

There are a number of recurring challenges:

• Authorship order alone doesn’t capture what are, in reality, nuanced, continuous, and diverse types of contribution.
• Lack of transparency in team members’ efforts can lead to overestimating our own contribution and underestimating others’.
• Contributions change over the course of a project.
• Actual and intended contributions can diverge.
• Value created by synergies is hard to account for.

Some solutions to these problems:

• Use the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) with a degree of contribution (lead, equal, supporting), and report this in publications.
• Keep a team-accessible list of contributions.
• Track how contributions evolve, from intended to actual/final.
• Use a transparent, flexible method for translating actual/final contributions into authorship order.
• Give each contributor responsibility for recording their own contributions.
• Give the project leader responsibility for making sure this self-responsibility is understood, remembered, and acted upon — e.g. by building it into the team’s research culture, and issuing reminders.