Be Sure to Give Me Credit

Guidelines for managing potential conflict regarding professional credit are presented. These include: (a) acknowledge that professional credit is a very sensitive issue; (b) determine credit decisions early enough in a project so that the participants can adjust their workloads to correspond to the credit that they expect to receive; (c) develop a credit policy for students and research assistants who participate in projects; (d) view professional credit in the context of the broader clinical and/or research endeavor; and (e) develop a credit policy that is fair, equitable, and understandable.