CRediT · Author guidance
The CRediT author statement
A CRediT author statement is the structured section of a manuscript that records what each author and contributor actually did — using the 14 standardised roles of the Contributor Roles Taxonomy. This guide defines it, explains why journals require it, shows where it goes in a manuscript, and walks through how to write one.
What is a CRediT author statement?
A CRediT author statement is the part of a research paper that makes contribution explicit. Rather than leaving readers to infer who did what from author order, it names each author — and, where relevant, each acknowledged contributor — and attaches one or more of the 14 roles defined by the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT). Those roles range from Conceptualization and Methodology through Investigation and Formal analysis to Writing — original draft and Funding acquisition. Because the roles are a controlled vocabulary with canonical identifiers, the statement is machine-readable: it can be encoded in JATS XML, deposited to Crossref, and pushed to ORCID.
Why journals require a CRediT statement
Publishers adopted CRediT to solve a recurring integrity problem: the traditional byline conceals more than it reveals. Honorary authorship (adding a senior name that did little) and ghost authorship (omitting someone who did substantial work) both thrive when contribution is implicit. A structured statement makes each role auditable, gives early-career researchers a defensible record of their specific contribution, and feeds downstream systems that funders and institutions increasingly consult. The ICMJE explicitly recognises CRediT as a useful complement to its authorship criteria — so the statement does not replace your journal’s authorship policy, it sits alongside it.
Where the statement goes in a manuscript
Conventionally, the statement is its own section headed “CRediT authorship contribution statement”, placed immediately before the reference list and after any acknowledgements. Many submission systems — Editorial Manager, ScholarOne, eJournalPress and OJS — now also collect the same information through structured per-author fields at submission, which is the form the publisher carries through to production. Either way the underlying data is identical; for the exact placement conventions and the machine-readable encoding, see the format and encoding guide.
The step most authors miss
You’ve written your CRediT statement. Now make it count.
A CRediT statement credits you inside one paper. The recognition CRediT was built for happens when those roles are tied to you, persistently. Sign in with your ORCID — free — and claim your CRediT contributions on casrai.org, the home of the standard. They become a verified, portable part of your identity, not a line that disappears into one PDF.
Free: claim your contributions, then export a journal-ready CRediT statement, schema.org structured data, JATS XML, CSV or BibTeX — and preview your public profile. A membership publishes that profile publicly and verifies the journals you serve.
Step by step
How to write a CRediT author statement
The workflow has five steps. You can do all of it by hand, but the free CRediT statement builder turns it into a few clicks and exports the result in every format a publisher might ask for.
- List every contributor. List everyone who contributed to the work, whether or not they meet your journal’s authorship bar. ICMJE-qualifying contributors appear in the byline; others (medical writers, technical staff) belong in the acknowledgements with their CRediT roles.
- Assign CRediT roles to each. For each contributor, select the subset of the 14 CRediT roles that genuinely describe what they did. Roles are non-exclusive — most authors hold three or more — and you do not need to use all 14.
- Add the optional degree qualifier. Where several contributors share a role, optionally mark each as lead, equal or supporting, the degree-of-contribution qualifier defined in ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022.
- Place the statement in the manuscript. Add a “CRediT authorship contribution statement” section just before the references, or enter the same data in your submission system’s structured CRediT fields. Most major publishers now collect it structurally.
- Encode it for deposit. At production the journal encodes each role as a JATS XML <role> element and carries the role URIs through to Crossref deposit and, optionally, ORCID — so the credit becomes machine-readable and follows each author.
Common questions
CRediT author statement FAQ
What is a CRediT author statement?+
A CRediT author statement (often called a CRediT authorship contribution statement) is a short, structured section of a manuscript that records what each named author and acknowledged contributor actually did, using the 14 standardised roles of the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT, ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022). It replaces the vague convention of inferring contribution from author order with explicit, machine-readable attribution.
Why do journals require a CRediT author statement?+
Journals require it to make individual contributions transparent and accountable, to support fair credit for early-career researchers, and to deter honorary or ghost authorship. More than 50 publishers — including PLOS, eLife, Cell Press, BMJ and the AAAS Science family — collect CRediT, many of them as a submission requirement, because structured contribution data is auditable and travels downstream into Crossref and ORCID.
Where does the CRediT statement go in a manuscript?+
Conventionally it appears as its own section headed “CRediT authorship contribution statement”, placed immediately before the references and after any acknowledgements. Increasingly, submission systems such as Editorial Manager and ScholarOne also collect the same information through structured per-author fields, so you may enter it there rather than as free text.
Is a CRediT author statement the same as an authorship statement?+
Not exactly. An authorship statement establishes who qualifies as an author, usually against the ICMJE criteria. A CRediT author statement records what each author and contributor did, using the 14 roles. They are complementary: authorship gatekeeps the byline; CRediT annotates it. Many journals collect both.
Can AI tools be listed in a CRediT author statement?+
No. Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini cannot be named as CRediT contributors because they are tools, not people, and cannot take accountability for the work. Disclose AI use in a separate statement rather than assigning it a CRediT role.
How do I write a CRediT author statement quickly?+
List each author, pick the CRediT roles that apply, optionally mark lead/equal/supporting, and paste the result into the “CRediT authorship contribution statement” section. The free CRediT statement builder does this for you and exports plain text, Markdown, JATS XML or JSON-LD.
Keep going
Across the CRediT statement cluster
Interactive
CRediT statement builder
Generate a statement and export to plain text, Markdown, JATS XML or JSON-LD.
Examples
Author contributions examples
Eight paste-ready worked statements across biomedical, lab, computational and consortium papers.
Format
Statement format & encoding
Plain-text layout, journal placement, JATS XML, Crossref deposit and ORCID.
The step most authors miss
Doing CRediT right? Don’t stop at the statement.
A CRediT statement credits you inside one paper. The recognition CRediT was built for happens when those roles are tied to you, persistently. Sign in with your ORCID — free — and claim your CRediT contributions on casrai.org, the home of the standard. They become a verified, portable part of your identity, not a line that disappears into one PDF.
Free: claim your contributions, then export a journal-ready CRediT statement, schema.org structured data, JATS XML, CSV or BibTeX — and preview your public profile. A membership publishes that profile publicly and verifies the journals you serve.
