Listing of Credentials in Professional Publications

Parveen A. Ali, PhD, MScN, BScN, RN, SHEA, FFPH, FAAN

Writer’s Camp Guest Counselor

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Parveen Ali is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Nursing Review, the official publication of the International Council of Nurses. She has a has a joint position at the University of Sheffield and Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield, England, UK. Parveen completed her PhD from University of Sheffield in 2012. She completed MScN and BScN degrees from Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. Her research focuses on gender-based violence, domestic abuse, inequalities in health related to gender and ethnicity, and health care professionals’ preparation. 

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Listing professional credentials—both when and how—is not a cut and dried matter.

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Recent changes implemented by the publisher of the journal for which I am Editor-in-Chief, International Nursing Review, mean that only name(s) and affiliation(s) of authors are visible and nothing else. This has challenged my thinking as when reading a manuscript, I feel the need to know more about the authors. It is a bit unsettling to not have more information provided. The authors’ ORCiDs are listed (that is a required element), but I am not sure if this is enough. I also think it is important to know if someone writing about nursing is a nurse or not. Not because others cannot write about nursing but because we can understand where the point of view is coming from and are able to judge or respond accordingly. I do think some uniform guidance is needed. This is especially important for our students and novice colleagues learning about evidence-based practice and determining the credibility of the piece and its origin.

Guidance for Credentials

We know that there is guidance on how authors’ credentials (e.g., academic degrees, professional titles, or affiliations) should be handled in manuscripts. Different organizations approach it slightly differently, but some general principles are fairly consistent. For example: 

1. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE):

• ICMJE does not require authors to list academic degrees or credentials (like PhD, MD, RN, etc.) in the byline.
• What is required is each author’s affiliation (institution, department, city, country) and contribution statement.
• If journals choose to show degrees, they should apply this consistently across all authors.

2. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE):

• COPE has discussed issues where use of credentials may create bias or misrepresentation.
• They advise that journals adopt a clear, transparent policy on whether credentials (e.g., “Dr.,” “Professor,” “RN,” “MBA”) appear, and apply it consistently.
• Credentials should not be used in a way that implies authority or superiority over the actual research evidence.

3. Publisher Guidelines (e.g., Elsevier, Wiley, Springer):

• Most publishers follow ICMJE and list only the highest academic degree (PhD, MD) or professional qualification (RN, NP, etc.) next to author names, if at all.
• Others omit degrees altogether and standardize presentation around affiliations only.

4. Good practice considerations:

• Consistency: If credentials are shown, they should be used for all authors equally (e.g., all authors have degrees listed, or none do).
• Clarity: Avoid long strings of credentials that distract from the scientific content (e.g., “PhD, RN, FRCN, FFPH, MBA”). Journals often limit credentials to the primary academic degree.
• Relevance: Include only credentials relevant to the research area.
• Equity: Be mindful that over-emphasis on titles (Professor, Dr.) can unintentionally reinforce hierarchies and marginalize early career researchers or authors from contexts where credentialing systems differ.

Specific Guidance for Nurses

The American Nurses Association has a position statement from 2009 which provides the purpose, position, and assumptions along with recommendations and examples.¹ Similar guidance is provided the American Nurses Credentialing Center and specialty organizations such as the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). A recent article by Hicks and colleagues provides the following recommendations and summary:²

•  Degree credentials are awarded after the completion of an educational program e.g. AS, BS, MS, PhD, EdD
• Licensure is based on completion of specified educational program and successful passing of a national licensure exam e.g. RN, LPN
• State designations or requirements are credentials that designate authority and recognition to practice at an advanced level.  The specific titles are state specific.  Examples of these designations or requirements include APN, ARNP, APRN, CRNP, NP, CNS, and CS.
• National certification is awarded by nationally recognized accredited certifying bodies and includes recognition of continued education in specified area of practice or professional advancement.  Examples of these certification credentials include RN, C, RNBC, BS-CAE, CWOCN, and CCRN. 
• Awards and honors are recognition of outstanding service or accomplishments.  Examples include FAAN or FCCN.
• Other certifications are those not associated with the profession of nursing or with licensure.

The following order of credentials should be utilized to ensure consistency and professionalism across nursing settings:

• Education: List highest attained degree first.
• Licensure:  State designation or requirement.
• National certification: Awards and honors.
• Other certifications: The credentials should be listed as capital letters without periods between letters, but with a comma between each credential. 

Practices in Other Fields and Disciplines

I decided to look into this issue more widely. Across academic fields, practices differ considerably. In STEM fields, social sciences, and the humanities, it is standard to list only author names and affiliations, with no credentials, on the basis that research should be judged independently of academic or professional titles. By contrast, in applied and professional disciplines such as medicine, nursing, allied health, and law, there has been a tradition of including relevant degrees and professional designations, as these are closely tied to practice identity, expertise, and reader trust. Interdisciplinary and policy-focused journals generally omit credentials to promote inclusivity of contributors beyond academia. The trend among publishers, including Wiley, is toward greater standardization (names and affiliations only), emphasizing equity and consistency, though this may come at the cost of losing important context in practice-based fields. A summary of what I found is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Summary of the Presentation of Credentials for Different Fields

Field	Common Practice	Rationale for Omission	Rationale for Inclusion
Biomedical & Clinical Sciences (Medicine, Nursing, Allied Health, Dentistry, Pharmacy)	Historically: names and degrees (MD, PhD, RN, NP, etc.). Increasingly: names and affiliations only (especially with Wiley and Elsevier).	Ensures consistency across all authors; Reduces hierarchy between senior/early career researchers; Focuses attention on evidence, not status.	Professional designations (RN, NP, CNM, etc.) are part of a person’s practice identity and credibility; Including credentials reassures readers of author expertise; Inclusion supports trust in clinical/practice-based research.
STEM (Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Chemistry)	Names and affiliations only; credentials almost never listed.	Research judged by institution and content; PhDs assumed standard for senior authors.	Rarely argued for—credentials seen as redundant.
Social Sciences (Sociology, Education, Psychology, Political Science, etc.)	Names and affiliations only.	Focus on intellectual argument, not author’s status; Avoids unnecessary hierarchy.	Occasionally useful in applied subfields (e.g., clinical psychology) where professional licenses matter.
Humanities (History, Philosophy, Languages, Literature, etc.)	Names and affiliations only.	Longstanding convention that arguments should stand independently of credentials.	Rare—credentials generally seen as irrelevant.
Law & Legal Studies	Mixed: US law reviews → names and affiliations; Some practitioner journals include JD, LLB, Esq.	Equity across academic and non-academic contributors; Focus on affiliation.	JD/Esq. signals practicing authority; Important in practitioner-facing outlets.
Business, Economics & Management	Typically names and affiliations only.	Academic credibility conveyed through institution.	Some professional outlets include CPA, MBA, etc., to emphasize practice authority.
Interdisciplinary / Policy Journals (Global Health, Public Policy, Development Studies, NGO-focused)	Usually omit credentials; Names and affiliations only.	Promotes inclusivity (policy-makers, NGOs, community leaders without academic titles); Focuses on contributions, not hierarchy.	Limited cases where a professional role (e.g., MPH, MPHIL) may signal relevance.

Conclusion

A recent lively discussion on the International Academy of Nursing Editors mailing list demonstrates that this is a topic about which nurses have strong opinions. It remains to be seen if publishers’ efforts to limit the listing of credentials or eliminating them altogether in favor of names and affiliations only—which is the standard in most other fields, as shown in Table 1—incites a revolution among nurse authors and editors.

References

1.   American Nurses Association. Official Position Statement: Credentials for the Professional Nurse. 2009. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-excellence/official-position-statements/id/determining-a-standard-order-of-credentials-for-the-professional-nurse/

2.      Hicks RW, Roberts MEE, Berg JA, Chan GK. The importance of knowing what your nursing credentials mean. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. 2025;37(9):485-490.

Author: Parveen A. Ali

Reviewed and Edited by: Leslie H. Nicoll

Copyright © 2025 Writer’s Camp and Parveen A. Ali. CC-BY-ND 4.0

Citation: Ali P. Listing of Credentials in Professional Publications. The Writer’s Camp Journal. 2025; 1(2):18  doi:10.5281/zenodo.17148062

Note: This article was adapted from “The Editorial Lens,” Parveen’s Substack, and a post on the INANE mailing list.