Student-Faculty Joint-Authorship: Mentorship in Publication

Abstract

As nurses pursue knowledge and their research becomes increasingly complex and sophisticated, collaboration among nurses with various kinds of expertise becomes a necessity. This trend is clearly reflected in the multi-authored articles that are published in many nursing research journals. Brown, Tanner, and Padrick (1984) reported an increase in the percentage of such articles, from 7% in 1952-53 to 40% in 1980. Collaborative research and resulting multiple authorship have usually developed among colleagues from within the nursing community and from other disciplines. This joint-authorship process has been defined by Nehring and Durham (1986) as "collaboration between two or more persons with a common goal of producing a published professional journal article" (p. 15). While the issue of co-authorship among colleagues has received some attention in the literature, the role of this process in guiding or mentoring students to meet the demands of their future working world has not received much emphasis.