CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement Generator

A CRediT statement says, in a fixed vocabulary, what each author contributed to a paper. CRediT, the Contributor Roles Taxonomy, defines 14 roles, from Conceptualization to Funding acquisition. It was first published in 2014 by a group of researchers, funders and publishers, and became the standard ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022 in 2022.

Elsevier, Cell Press, PLOS, MDPI, Wiley and many other publishers now ask for CRediT roles on at least some of their journals, either as a short section in the manuscript or as tick boxes in the submission system. Because the same terms are used everywhere, the roles can be added to article metadata and read by machines, not just by readers of the PDF.

The generator above writes the section for you. Each role appears once per author, in the order journals print them, with the exact NISO names.

Definitions are quoted from the CRediT standard maintained by NISO; the examples are ours.

By author, the form Elsevier and most journals use, under the heading “CRediT authorship contribution statement”:

Ana Souza: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.
Daniel Kim: Software, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – review & editing, Visualization.
Leila Haddad: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.

By role with initials, the “Author Contributions” form used by MDPI journals, which ends with a fixed sentence:

Conceptualization, A.S. and L.H.; methodology, A.S. and L.H.; software, D.K.; formal analysis, A.S.; investigation, D.K.; resources, L.H.; data curation, D.K.; writing—original draft preparation, A.S.; writing—review and editing, A.S., D.K. and L.H.; visualization, D.K.; supervision, L.H.; project administration, L.H.; funding acquisition, L.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Single author. A sole author lists every role they carried out and leaves out the rest:

Ana Souza: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization.

Some journals use none of these exactly, for example “A.S. designed the study and wrote the first draft.” Check the guide for authors and pick the closest format; the roles stay the same. The MDPI closing sentence is “All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.”

CRediT lets you add a degree of contribution to any role: lead for the person who led it, equal for people who shared it evenly, and supporting for a smaller part. It is optional. Use it when several authors share a role and the difference matters, and when the journal or your team asks for it.

Ana Souza: Conceptualization (lead), Methodology (lead), Formal analysis (lead), Writing – original draft (lead), Writing – review & editing (equal).
Daniel Kim: Software (lead), Investigation (lead), Data curation (lead), Writing – review & editing (equal), Visualization (lead).

Give a role one lead at most; if two people led it together, mark both equal. Switch on “Add degree” in step 2 to record these.

CRediT records who did what. It does not decide who is an author. Medical journals and many others follow the ICMJE recommendations, under which every author must meet all four criteria:

1. a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to acquiring, analyzing or interpreting the data;
2. drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
3. final approval of the version to be published; and
4. agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

ICMJE names funding acquisition, general supervision of a research group and administrative support as contributions that do not, on their own, qualify someone as an author. The generator flags authors whose only roles are Funding acquisition, Supervision or Project administration, and authors with no writing role. Contributors who do not meet the criteria belong in the acknowledgements; see our guide to writing the acknowledgements section.

For how CRediT is used to settle authorship questions in clinical research teams, read CRediT author contribution statements: a practical guide for medical researchers.

If you have an old “author contributions” paragraph, map each phrase to the nearest role:

Language editing, proofreading and writing help from a professional service are not CRediT author roles. Acknowledge them, with the funder if one paid for the help.

• Copying the same roles for everyone. Editors notice identical role lists, and so do people reading the statement during an authorship dispute.
• Inventing role names. “Data analysis” or “Study design” are not CRediT terms. Use the exact 14 names so the roles can be indexed.
• Names that differ from the byline. Use the same spelling, order and initials as the author list on the title page.
• Deciding alone. The corresponding author usually submits the statement, but every author should agree to it, ideally when the work is planned and again before submission.
• Leaving out roles because they seem small. Software, Data curation and Validation are often missed. They are real contributions and help the people who did them.

What is a CRediT authorship contribution statement?

It is a short section of a research article that says what each author did, using the 14 roles of CRediT, the Contributor Roles Taxonomy. Elsevier prints it under the heading “CRediT authorship contribution statement” above the acknowledgements; other publishers call it “Author contributions”. Many submission systems also ask you to tick CRediT roles for each author.

What are the 14 CRediT roles?

Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration and Funding acquisition. The taxonomy is maintained by NISO as the standard ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022.

How do I write a CRediT author statement?

List the authors in byline order, decide with the whole team which of the 14 roles each person carried out, and write one entry per author, for example “Ana Souza: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft.” Use the exact role names, give every author at least one role, and have all authors approve the statement before submission.

What does a CRediT statement look like?

A typical example: “Ana Souza: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Daniel Kim: Software, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Leila Haddad: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.”

What is the CRediT statement for a single-author paper?

A sole author lists every role they carried out, usually most of them, for example “Ana Souza: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization.” Leave out roles that did not apply, such as Funding acquisition for unfunded work or Software if no code was written. Some journals accept “The author confirms sole responsibility for all aspects of the work” instead.

Where does the CRediT statement go in the manuscript?

Follow the journal’s guide for authors. Elsevier asks for it at submission and prints it above the acknowledgements. Most other journals place an “Author contributions” section in the end matter, before the acknowledgements, funding and conflict of interest statements, or collect the roles in the submission form.

What do lead, equal and supporting mean in CRediT?

They are the optional degrees of contribution. Lead marks the person who led that role, equal marks two or more people who shared it equally, and supporting marks a smaller contribution. They are useful when several authors share a role, such as Formal analysis (lead) for one author and Formal analysis (supporting) for another. Only add them if the journal asks or the team agrees.

Does a CRediT role make someone an author?

No. CRediT describes contributions; it does not decide authorship. Medical and many other journals follow the ICMJE criteria: a substantial contribution to the work, drafting or critically revising it, approving the final version and accepting accountability. People who contributed but do not meet the criteria go in the acknowledgements, where CRediT roles can describe their help too.

Can more than one author have the same CRediT role?

Yes. Any number of authors can share a role, and most papers list several people under Writing – review & editing. If you want to show who led a shared role, switch on the degree of contribution and mark one person lead and the others supporting, or mark them all equal.

Does every author need Writing – review & editing?

CRediT itself does not require it. But journals that follow the ICMJE recommendations expect every author to have drafted or critically revised the manuscript, so most teams tick Writing – review & editing for every author who did revise it. Do not tick it for someone who did not.

What is the difference between Writing – original draft and Writing – review & editing?

Writing – original draft is writing the first full draft, including substantive translation. Writing – review & editing is critical review, commentary or revision by members of the research group, before or after publication. Copy editing or language editing by a professional service is not an author role; acknowledge it instead.

How is the MDPI author contributions format different?

MDPI journals list roles first, in lowercase, followed by author initials, separated by semicolons, and end with a fixed sentence, for example “Conceptualization, A.S. and L.H.; methodology, A.S.; software, D.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.” Choose “By role, initials” in the generator to get this format.

How do I map older wording such as “data collection” to CRediT roles?

Study design becomes Conceptualization or Methodology, data collection or patient recruitment becomes Investigation, statistical analysis becomes Formal analysis, providing samples or equipment becomes Resources, writing the manuscript becomes Writing – original draft, and revising it becomes Writing – review & editing.

Is my author list stored anywhere?

No. The generator runs in your browser and sends nothing to a server. Your draft is kept in this browser’s local storage so it is still there when you come back; use “Clear all” to remove it.

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• NISO. CRediT – Contributor Roles Taxonomy. Role names and definitions, CC BY 4.0.
• NISO. ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022, CRediT, Contributor Roles Taxonomy. 2022.
• Elsevier. CRediT author statement. Format and placement above the acknowledgements.
• Taylor & Francis. JATS guide: author contributions (CRediT). The role element, vocabulary attributes and degree-contribution.
• ICMJE. Defining the role of authors and contributors. The four authorship criteria.
• Allen L, Scott J, Brand A, Hlava M, Altman M. Publishing: credit where credit is due. Nature. 2014;508(7496):312–313.
• Brand A, Allen L, Altman M, Hlava M, Scott J. Beyond authorship: attribution, contribution, collaboration, and credit. Learned Publishing. 2015;28(2):151–155.

Content updated October 26, 2026. This is an independent tool and is not affiliated with NISO or any publisher. Check your target journal’s guide for authors for its exact format.