On 2017 Jun 13, John Sotos commented:

To stimulate data-sharing, Bierer et al propose a new type of authorship, "data author," to credit persons who collect data but do not analyze it as part of a scientific study. Their proposal, however, requires a non-trivial modification to the structure of the Pubmed database, revision of authorship criteria across thousands of journals, and assigns a specialness to data authorship that could equally be claimed for "statistical authorship," "drafting authorship," "study-conceiving authorship," "benchwork authorship," etc.

Reviving decades-old proposals for fractional authorship (1) could better achieve the same laudable aims, especially if open-source "blockchain" software technology (2)(3)(4) were used to conveniently, publicly, quantitatively, and securely track authorship credit in perpetuity.

Authorship would thereby have some features of alternate currency (e.g. BitCoin): senior authors could use future authorship credits to "purchase" data from owners according to the data's value. They could also assign roles from a controlled vocabulary (data author, statistical author, etc.) to some or all authors. Over time, norms for pricing and authorship roles would coalesce in the scientific community.

Overall, a blockchain fractional-authorship system would be more flexible and extensible than a special case made for data authors.

(1) Shaw BT. The Use of Quality and Quantity of Publication as Criteria for Evaluating Scientists. Washington, DC: Agriculture Research Service, USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 1041, 1967. Available at: http://bit.ly/2pVTImI

(2) Nakamoto S. Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. October 31, 2008. https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

(3) Tapscott D, Tapscott A. Blockchain revolution : how the technology behind bitcoin is changing money, business, and the world. New York: Portfolio / Penguin, 2016

(4) Sotos JG, Houlding D. Blockchains for data sharing in clinical research: trust in a trustless world. (Blockchain Application Note #1.) March 2017. https://simplecore.intel.com/itpeernetwork/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2017/05/Intel_Blockchain_Application_Note1.pdf

On 2017 Jun 13, John Sotos commented:

To stimulate data-sharing, Bierer et al propose a new type of authorship, "data author," to credit persons who collect data but do not analyze it as part of a scientific study. Their proposal, however, requires a non-trivial modification to the structure of the Pubmed database, revision of authorship criteria across thousands of journals, and assigns a specialness to data authorship that could equally be claimed for "statistical authorship," "drafting authorship," "study-conceiving authorship," "benchwork authorship," etc.

Reviving decades-old proposals for fractional authorship (1) could better achieve the same laudable aims, especially if open-source "blockchain" software technology (2)(3)(4) were used to conveniently, publicly, quantitatively, and securely track authorship credit in perpetuity.

Authorship would thereby have some features of alternate currency (e.g. BitCoin): senior authors could use future authorship credits to "purchase" data from owners according to the data's value. They could also assign roles from a controlled vocabulary (data author, statistical author, etc.) to some or all authors. Over time, norms for pricing and authorship roles would coalesce in the scientific community.

Overall, a blockchain fractional-authorship system would be more flexible and extensible than a special case made for data authors.

(1) Shaw BT. The Use of Quality and Quantity of Publication as Criteria for Evaluating Scientists. Washington, DC: Agriculture Research Service, USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 1041, 1967. Available at: http://bit.ly/2pVTImI

(2) Nakamoto S. Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. October 31, 2008. https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

(3) Tapscott D, Tapscott A. Blockchain revolution : how the technology behind bitcoin is changing money, business, and the world. New York: Portfolio / Penguin, 2016

(4) Sotos JG, Houlding D. Blockchains for data sharing in clinical research: trust in a trustless world. (Blockchain Application Note #1.) March 2017. https://simplecore.intel.com/itpeernetwork/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2017/05/Intel_Blockchain_Application_Note1.pdf