Assessment on Author Contribution in Publication: A Tool for Decision-makers

In this paper, an assessment model that incorporated with fuzzy preference relations is proposed to assess the contribution of each author that is involved in publication work. A case study is conducted to demonstrate the ability of the proposed methodology in distinguishing and reflecting the actual contribution of individual author through peer assessment. Results revealed the fuzzy preference relations are capable to provide indices to reflect authors’ contribution in a team, and subsequently rate them accordingly with appropriate individual mark. The mark for authors in a team is computed by their associated individual contribution factor scores and the journal rank mark set by the university. The methodology can be further deployed as a standardized method to quantify co-authors’ contributions in multi-author papers, and subsequently become a supplement evaluation tool for the university's decision maker to grade or reward the authors.