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Author Contribution Share Calculator

Work out author contribution share instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Author Contribution Share Calculator

Credit allocation schemes differ sharply. On a six-author paper an equal split gives 16.7% each, while harmonic weighting gives the first author 40.8% and the second 20.4%. Second position under harmonic credit is 1.22 times an equal share - which is why the scheme chosen materially affects bibliometric evaluation.

Formulas

Harmonic credit

share = (1/position) / sum of (1/k) for k = 1 to n

Arithmetic credit

share = (n - position + 1) / (n(n+1)/2)

Worked example

With the default values below, Author Contribution Share Calculator returns Your Credit Share of 20.41%. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Your position in the author listminimum 1
2
Total authorsaccepts 1–10,000
6
Credit schemeone of Equal split, Harmonic (position-weighted), First-author weighted, Arithmetic descending
Harmonic (position-weighted)

Results

Your Credit Share
20.41%
Share Under An Equal Split
16.67%
Credit Relative To An Equal Split
1.225 x
Authors On The Paper
6

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Harmonic credit
  3. 3Arithmetic credit
  4. 4Your Credit Share= 20.41
  5. 5Share Under An Equal Split= 16.67
  6. 6Credit Relative To An Equal Split= 1.225 x
  7. 7Authors On The Paper= 6

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 3 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which scheme is fairest?

None universally. Harmonic weighting matches the convention that earlier positions did more work, but many fields list authors alphabetically or by seniority.

What about CRediT statements?

They describe contribution types rather than apportioning fractional credit, which is more informative but harder to aggregate into metrics.

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