Distinguishing Contributor Listing from acknowledgments: Preserving the human dimension of scholarly recognition.

Abstract

Holcombe et al. (2026) propose practical mechanisms for making specific non-author research contributions more visible through ORCID identifiers, CRediT information, manuscript submission systems, and JATS-XML metadata. We support this aim but argue that its implementation requires a clearer distinction between two questions: how substantive contributions should be formally credited, and how broadly authors may acknowledge the human relationships and circumstances underlying scholarly work. We propose two complementary categories: a structured Contributor Listing for machine-readable author and non-author contributions and narrative Acknowledgments for gratitude and contextual recognition. This distinction would advance visibility and accountability without allowing the standardization of contributor credit to become the standardization of gratitude.