Template:PublicationFields:Author


 * Author - The name of the author of the publication. The name should be entered exactly as it actually appeared in the publication. This includes pseudonyms, abbreviated names ("I. Asimov" instead of "Isaac Asimov", "Robert Heinlein" instead of "Robert A. Heinlein"), etc.  As with the title, take the name from the title page in preference to the cover or spine of the book.
 * Editors, authors, translators, etc. If the book has a known author (or authors), use that name (or names).  If it is an anthology, use the name of the editor.  If the book is a single-author collection or omnibus, but has an editor, as occasionally occurs, the editor does not appear in this field, the author does. An omnibus should show the names of the authors of all included fiction. There is currently no support in the ISFDB for translators, or photographers; this information should just be entered in the notes field.
 * Anonymous or uncredited works. If a work is credited to "Anonymous", then put "Anonymous" in the author field.  The same applies for any obviously similar pseudonym, such as "Noname".  If the work is not credited at all, use "uncredited", with a lower case "u".  This applies to editorship of anthologies that are not credited. If a work is attributed to a role, e.g. "Editor" or "Publisher", then use that name as the author, even if it you have clear evidence as to who the author really is.  For example, editorials in magazines were frequently uncredited, or credited to "The Editor"; these should be entered with the Author field set to "The Editor".  The intent is that the record made from the publication should reflect what can be found in the publication.  If there is external evidence (such as a collection of editorials from a magazine, making it clear who the author was) that identifies the author, then you can add a variant title to that item, using the real name.  This will attach the work to the true author's bibliography, without giving incorrect data about what is actually in the source publication. If you are working from a secondary source which does not specify the author, but does not explicitly state that no author is credited in the publication, use "unknown" rather than "uncredited".
 * Case. Case should be regularized.  A few magazines and books had typographical conventions that include, for example, printing an author's name in all lower case, or all upper case.  These should convert to leading capitals.  If a name includes an element that typically is not capitalized, it should be uncapitalized regardless of how it is presented in the publication.  For example, if a magazine gives a story as by "L. Sprague De Camp", the name should be entered as "L. Sprague de Camp".  Author names that vary only in capitalization are not tracked as variants.
 * Initials. Initials should normally be entered followed by a period and a space as "Gordon R. Dickson" or "K. D. Wentworth", even if period or space is omitted in the publication. However, when it is clearly the author's choice to omit the period, or when the author has a single letter name that is not an initial (e.g. "Harry S Truman") the period should be omitted. In the very rare case where an author prefers two (or more) initials as if they were a name (such as "TG Theodore"), without period or space, and is so credited, we follow the author's preference. A possible clue to such cases occurs when most authors have initials shown with period and space, but a particular author is handled differently in a magazine or anthology. Checking other sources, such as a Wikipedia article or the author's web site, is a good idea. Such non-standard forms should be mentioned in a publication or title note.
 * Spaces in Names: Spaces within a name should be regularized. If a name differs from a canonical name or existing pseudonym only by the lack of, or addition of, blank spaces, it should be entered as the existing name or pseudonym. For example, a book credited to "Ursula LeGuin", "Lester DelRey", or "A. E. VanVogt" should be listed by including the missing space, e.g. "Lester del Rey". Conversely, if a book were credited to "John De Chancie", the extra space should be removed, and the book credited to "John DeChancie". One effect of this rule is to avoid subjective judgements when there appears to be a "partial space" in a name.
 * Pseudonyms. If you know that a particular author's name is a pseudonym, leave it as the pseudonym rather than changing it to the real name.  If the title page shows both an original and a subsequent name, use the original name.  For example, Isaac Asimov's "Lucky Starr" books were originally published under the pseudonym of Paul French, but later reprints were given both names: "by Isaac Asimov, writing as Paul French".  In these cases you should still enter Paul French as the author and record the dual credit in the notes.  If the cover shows both names but the title page shows only one name, use the name from the title page -- no matter which it is -- and record the discrepancy with the cover credit in the notes.  When a book is known to be ghost-written, this should be treated as a pseudonym; the ghost-writer will eventually show up as having a pseudonym of the well-known author, but that data is not entered via this field.
 * Accented characters. If you are entering a name such as "Philip José Farmer" that is printed with an accented e, that accented character should be reproduced in your entry of the name. Two versions of an author's name that are printed with and without accents are treated as variants; you should not convert one form to another.  However, if an accented form is given on a story title, but an unaccented form is given on the table of contents, use the accented form as the standard.
 * Collaborations. If a story has two authors, it doesn't matter which order you enter them in -- the ISFDB does not record any order internally regardless of how the authors are entered.
 * Writers "with" other writers. In some cases a writer is quoted as writing a story "with" another author; this can indicate that the more famous author did little more than lend their name to a project which was written almost entirely by a lesser known author.  However, if both names appear on the title page, both names should be entered.  A note can be added to the note field explaining the situation and giving a source.
 * Ranks, suffixes, prefixes. If an author is given as "Captain Robert L. Stone" then that should be entered in the database.  Abbreviated versions of the rank should be entered as given, rather than expanded.  For example, during World War II, on at least one occasion Amazing Stories printed an issue of stories from active service members, giving their ranks as part of the author attribution.  These ranks should be included in the author names, and made into variant names for the relevant authors .  Suffixes such as "Jr" should follow a comma and space, and be followed by a period if they are abbreviations.  This should be regularized if they are not presented this way in the publication.  E.g. "Sam Merwin Jr" should be entered as "Sam Merwin, Jr."; similarly, it's "Edward Elmer Smith, Ph.D."; or  "Frederick C. Durant, III".  Other prefixes and suffixes should follow analogous rules.