What does “Supervision” mean in CRediT?

Supervision is one of the 14 roles in ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022, the CRediT standard developed by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO). The definition covers oversight and leadership responsibility for planning and carrying out the research, and it adds “mentorship external to the core team”. NISO’s page also mentions assigning tasks, sharing knowledge and shaping a project’s direction. Its examples include agreeing milestones and monitoring progress, safeguarding the quality of outputs, upholding ethics and integrity norms, training and advising team members, and steering the team through method refinement and the interpretation of results.

The nearest role is Project administration, defined as management and coordination of the same planning and execution. Its examples lean towards timelines, budgets, compliance, recruiting participants, logistics and correspondence, whereas the Supervision examples lean towards guidance, mentoring and quality oversight. Both lists mention tracking progress, so the line is one of emphasis, and one person can hold both roles. CRediT does not decide who counts as an author: the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) lists “general supervision of a research group” among activities that alone do not qualify someone for authorship.