Chat with usLiveChat

v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 714 entries across 20 domains · CC-BY 4.0714 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

“Degree of contribution” qualifier (lead/equal/supporting)

The optional CRediT modifier that may be applied to any of the 14 CRediT roles to indicate the relative magnitude of a contributor's input: 'lead' (primary responsibility), 'equal' (co-equal with one or more others), or 'supporting' (contributed but did not lead).

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
Author A: 'Writing — original draft: lead'; Author B: 'Writing — original draft: supporting'

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
Assigning every contributor 'equal' on every role to avoid difficult conversations defeats the qualifier's purpose

Editorial commentary

Introduced in the NISO CRediT 2022 standard, the qualifier resolves the long-standing complaint that CRediT alone does not distinguish a contributor who led a role from one who marginally participated. Use is optional but encouraged; many publishers’ CRediT capture forms now offer the qualifier as a dropdown.

References

NISO CRediT Standard (ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022)
Holcombe et al. 2020 ‘Contributorship, not authorship’ PLOS One

Also known as

CRediT contribution magnitude qualifier · Lead/equal/supporting qualifier

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="“Degree of contribution” qualifier (lead/equal/supporting)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/degree-of-contribution-qualifier-lead-equal-supporting" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "\"Degree of contribution\" qualifier (lead/equal/supporting)",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/degree-of-contribution-qualifier-lead-equal-supporting",
  "description": "The optional CRediT modifier that may be applied to any of the 14 CRediT roles to indicate the relative magnitude of a contributor's input: 'lead' (primary responsibility), 'equal' (co-equal with one or more others), or 'supporting' (contributed but did not lead).",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/credit-extensions-and-adjacent-contribution-vocabularies/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/degree-of-contribution-qualifier-lead-equal-supporting",
  "sameAs": [
    "CRediT contribution magnitude qualifier",
    "Lead/equal/supporting qualifier"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

Referenced across the research world

View CASRAI adoption →