On Authorship Criteria in Music and Minority Studies, Ethnomusicology, and Related Disciplines

This editorial discusses selected aspects of Music & Minorities’ (M&M) policy on “Authorship, Contributorship, and Artificial Intelligence,” providing background on the rationale behind the policy and situating the discussion within the broader contexts of music and minority studies, ethnomusicology, related disciplines, such as social and cultural anthropology, and academic publishing. The focus is on authorship criteria. After explaining why authorship criteria are an important issue and deserve closer attention in music and minority studies and ethnomusicology in general, the editorial discusses the specific set of criteria issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The ICMJE criteria are among the most widely used authorship criteria in academic publishing, if not the most widely used. Thanks to their adoption (or adaptation) by major publishing corporations, these criteria have spread to disciplines far beyond their original domain of medical publishing, including ethnomusicology. In line with this consensus, M&M’s authorship criteria are derived from the ICMJE criteria and adapted to suit the scholarly practices of the journal’s specific field. Based on the discussion of the standard ICMJE criteria, three aspects of M&M’s policy are addressed in more detail: the general authorship criteria, non-author contributorship, and the special provisions for co-authorship by non-academic research partners.