The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has listed criteria for an author of an article in a biomedical journal.
Requirements for someone being an author:
(1) made a substantial contribution to the paper (concept, design, data acquisition, data analysis, data interpretation, etc)
(2) should be able to identify who is responsible for each component of the paper
(3) be involved in the drafting or revision of the article
(4) be involved in the approval of the final version to be published
An authors should be confident in the ability and integrity of co-authors.
Anyone who contributed to the paper but who does not meet the criteria for an author should be listed in the acknowledgments.
