Author Credentials

Can you can trust an author?

This is a difficult problem, but it is helpful to look at an author's credentials. Credentials are proof that other experts in the field recognize the author as a peer.

There are several types of credentials:

• Educational
• Leadership
• Affiliation

Educational Credentials

• In order to achieve educational credentials, the author has to have proven his/her expertise to other experts in the field
• Educational credentials have differing degrees of value. A PhD is a sign of more expertise than a Master's degree. Except for a few fields in which a Master's degree is the terminal (highest) degree, most authoritative scholars have a PhD

Leadership Credentials

• Leaders are people who are recognized as outstanding in their field
• Sometimes they are the recipients of awards (like the Pulitzer Prize)
• Sometimes they are identifiable through their title (such as Chief Information Officer for Motorola or President of Amnesty International)
• People with leadership credentials may or may not have educational credentials, but leaders have abundant experience that gives them authoritative expertise

Affiliation Credentials

• Sometimes people gain authority through their affiliations
• Scholars gain some authority for their academic posts and affiliations with institutions of higher learning or think tanks
• A professor on the faculty of Harvard has a more authoritative presence than a professor at a community college because getting a faculty appointment at Harvard is much more competitive than getting a faculty appointment at a community college

WARNING

These credentials do not provide authority across the board but apply to a specific area of expertise. An author with a PhD in Physiology is not necessarily qualified to write about parenting skills. The President of Amnesty International is not necessarily qualified to recommend medical procedures. A faculty member at Harvard School of Business is not necessarily qualified to talk about the Holocaust.