Mediation, arbitration, and combinations of these (e.g., med-arb [83, 84]) are examples of alternative dispute resolution [68]. They are “alternative” in the sense they are not resolved in courts. Alternative dispute resolution could be a valuable means for resolving authorship disputes that bypasses litigation [54].

A major difference between screenwriting and science is that Hollywood screenwriters are part of a single unionized workforce [1], while scientists lack any such central authority to compel them to seek arbitration or mediation. In cases where all authors were at the same institution, an institutional committee, or research ethics consultants might provide mediation [7, 85]. But the only authority that would be relevant to all authors of a manuscript, regardless of institutional affiliation, is the journal’s editorial staff. Authors implicitly recognize this authority when they submit a manuscript. But as discussed above, implicit authority alone does not mean editors are well positioned to perform arbitration or mediation. Rather, arbitration or mediation should be conducted not by editors, but by independent agencies (e.g., committees, businesses, non-governmental organizations, research ethics consultants) that specialize in alternative dispute resolution. These organizations would be staffed by people of diverse backgrounds who are experienced with scientific publishing, investigation, and dispute resolution. These agencies might be operated by a publisher, a journal, an institution, or a scientific society, but be independent from the editorial team, similar to the ethics committees (e.g., [86]) or journalists working at scientific journals. Dispute resolution agencies could provide services to many journals, not just one. In this model, editors would facilitate a process of alternative dispute resolution, not conduct it.

The tacit recognition of editorial authority could be made explicit. For example, when a journal accepts a paper, the editors could require authors to sign a form agreeing that by having this paper published in this journal, they would submit to binding arbitration if a dispute arises. Many journals already have such processes in place for copyright transference, payment of page charges or open access fees, and so on. Mandated arbitration poses potential ethical problems [68], so journals may not want to make arbitration a requirement for publication. Instead, journals could recommend mediation or arbitration only if disputes arise. Authors voluntarily agreeing to arbitration or mediation does not threaten academic freedom [7]. If the authors did not agree to binding arbitration, or mediation fails, the authors would be free to try to resolve the problem internally within a set time or face an editor’s decision by fiat. The key point is that “work it out by yourselves” becomes one of several options for authors in a dispute, not the only option.

The simplest scenario is one in which a dispute arises after a paper has been submitted to a journal. Depending on the journal’s specific policy, journal staff would either recommend mediation or arbitration, or simply initiate the process by contacting the alternative dispute resolution agency. Because alternative dispute resolution processes come in many forms [83, 84], journals might differ in what dispute resolution process they prefer. For papers that have already been published, however, some form of resolution including arbitration might be more appropriate than mediation alone because an editor needs to make a decision about a paper’s version of record. The mediators or arbiters would investigate, applying the generally accepted practices of the field, which would be known to authors in advance. For example, in life sciences, it would be expected that the author who performed the most tasks would be first author, and the author with the greatest seniority would be last. While authors may overvalue their own work [87], people engaged in dispute resolution in any field are routinely tasked with making decisions where participants give contradictory information (e.g., judges and juries in court). A mediation or arbitration process might be similar in some ways to a peer review system. There may be multiple mediators or arbiters who investigate the claims and facts of the dispute, perhaps with some specifically assigned to act as advocates for the different individuals, like prosecution and defense attorneys in court. The alternative dispute resolution committee or agency would deliver recommendations to the journal’s editor-in-chief, who would implement the decision.

Alternative dispute resolution could be supported by funds from publishers and journals, as part of their commitment to ethical publishing practices [88]. Assistance in resolving disputes could become a mark of excellence as a service that high-quality journals are expected to offer, like enlisting and coordinating the efforts of peer reviewers, editing, typesetting, copyediting, and promotion of articles to media. Funding agencies also have incentives to support the costs of alternative dispute resolution. Authorship disputes diminishes the return on funders’ investments by preventing publication of research they funded. Funding agencies might make arbitration or mediation permissible expenses for grants, like how many funding agencies started including article processing charges as allowable expenses for the agency to support open access publication. Alternately, funding agencies might set aside some funds for dispute resolution as a contingency and provide them to researchers on a case-by-case basis.

The description above focuses on dispute resolution occurring after a manuscript has been submitted to a journal. But alternative dispute resolution agencies could also be involved in dispute prevention by providing services to authors directly. This would be similar to independent businesses that assist with writing and editing (often for authors writing in languages that they are not fluent in) [89], which are separate from the review, copyediting, and proofing services provided by journals. Making alternative dispute resolution available to authors through independent businesses may prevent disputes from occurring or resolve them before manuscripts are submitted to journals, which would prevent errata or retractions. Research proposals, particularly collaborations between individuals at different institutions, could require that principle investigators submit plans for dispute resolution [6, 90], analogous to requirements that proposals include plans for data management. These plans could include dispute resolution services.

One advantage of alternative dispute resolution systems is that they increase transparency by providing a clear pathway for dispute resolution. The increased presence of alternative dispute resolution on the publishing landscape may encourage improved record-keeping, because clear documentation of the project’s progress would be essential to having a decision in one’s favor. The more authorship disputes go through arbitration or mediation and are resolved through that process, the more likely that authors will become aware of the need to talk to each other about their expectations for authorship, much like how early fights by comic creators changed practices in that industry [91, 92].

The model for alternative dispute resolution for authorship suggested here is similar to research ethics consultation services [85, 93]. These consulting services provide advice on topics that are not covered by regulatory agencies like institutional review boards (IRBs) [93], potentially including dispute resolution [85]. One consulting service was funded jointly by research funding agencies and a host institution [94], providing an example of how such agencies might be supported.

Creating alternative dispute resolution processes within academia faces a common problem that individual interests are not always aligned with community interests. People who now have the seniority to try to determine or influence authorship credit could have that power reduced if alternative dispute resolution services were well known and readily available to authors. But because many academics have personally experienced authorship disputes, they might see the value for the research community for having new mechanisms for resolving disputes. Furthermore, because authorship disputes reduce scientific productivity, stakeholders who are concerned with maximizing research outcomes (e.g., funding agencies) have incentives to join community leaders on this issue in raising awareness and creating new policies.