Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A PI listed as senior author with CRediT 'Supervision' and 'Funding acquisition' on a paper led by a postdoc in their lab
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A PI on a paper from their lab where they had no role in design, conduct, or interpretation (gift authorship, not legitimate lab-leadership credit)
Editorial commentary
Lab leadership is substantive oversight of a research team or laboratory by a principal investigator or group leader — scientific direction, resource allocation, mentoring of team members, and accountability for the group’s research conduct — recognised under CRediT’s Supervision role and, increasingly, through narrative-CV team-leadership categories that credit sustained group leadership separately from any single paper.
How it differs from related terms: Lab leadership is credit for running a research group generally, not for having contributed to any one specific paper from it — a PI can lead a lab productively without intellectually shaping every output it produces. It overlaps with, but is distinct from, mentorship contribution (guidance to individuals, which can exist without formal group leadership) and from the CRediT-Resources-based equipment provision credit, which covers material or infrastructure supply rather than scientific direction.
Where a PI genuinely had no role in a specific paper’s design, conduct, or interpretation, listing them as senior author on the strength of running the lab is gift authorship — an integrity violation, not legitimate lab-leadership credit; the lab’s role in that case belongs in the affiliations and funding statement, not the byline.
References
- NISO CRediT Standard, ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022
- Royal Society Résumé for Researchers (R4RI, 2020 v1, 2024 mandate)
Also known as
PI supervision · Group leadership
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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