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v2026.1714 entries · CC-BY 4.0
Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

Technical staff contribution

Substantive technical work — laboratory technique, instrument operation, data acquisition, sample preparation, software engineering, or facility operation — performed by research-support staff (technicians, engineers, lab managers) that materially enables a research output.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board
· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

  • Is an instance

    A core-facility manager who performed all confocal microscopy for a paper and trained the first author on the technique

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

  • Not an instance

    A vendor who serviced an instrument but contributed nothing intellectual to the work

Editorial commentary

Historically under-credited because such contributions often do not include study design or manuscript drafting, technical staff contributions are increasingly recognised through extended CRediT categories or detailed acknowledgements. Where the technical contribution is essential to the work’s reproducibility, authorship is appropriate under most criteria.

References

  • NISO CRediT Standard (ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022)
  • Royal Society Technician Commitment (2017)

Also known as

Technician contribution · Research support staff contribution

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element
xml
<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Technical staff contribution"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/technical-staff-contribution" />
Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)
json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Technical staff contribution",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/technical-staff-contribution",
  "description": "Substantive technical work — laboratory technique, instrument operation, data acquisition, sample preparation, software engineering, or facility operation — performed by research-support staff (technicians, engineers, lab managers) that materially enables a research output.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/credit-extensions-and-adjacent-contribution-vocabularies/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/technical-staff-contribution",
  "sameAs": [
    "Technician contribution",
    "Research support staff contribution"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

Adopted by research universities worldwide

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