Perish or Publish Dilemma: Challenges to Responsible Authorship

Abstract

Controversies related to the concept and practice of responsible authorship and its misuse have been among the most prominent issues discussed in the recent literature on research integrity. Therefore, this paper aims to address the factors that lead to two major types of unethical authorship, namely, honorary and ghost authorship. It also highlights negative consequences of authorship misuse and provides a critical analysis of different authorship guidelines, including a recent debate on the amendments of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship definition. Empirical studies revealed that honorary authorship was the most prevalent deviation from the responsible authorship standards. Three different modalities of honorary authorship were distinguished: gift authorship, guest authorship, and coercive authorship. Prevalence of authorship misuse worldwide and in Europe was alarmingly high, covering approximately one third of all scientific publications. No significant differences were reported in authorship misuse between different health research disciplines. The studies conducted in North America highlighted the most effective means to cope with unethical authorship. These were training in publishing ethics, clear authorship policies developed by medical schools, and explicit compliance with the authorship criteria required by the medical journals. In conclusion, more empirical research is needed to raise awareness of the high prevalence of authorship misuse among scientists. Research integrity training courses, including publication ethics and authorship issues should be integrated into the curricula for students and young researchers in medical schools. Last but not least, further discussion on responsible authorship criteria and practice should be initiated.

Authorship in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

“…endorsement of authorship guidelines by medical journals. Furthermore, implementing a support system to discuss and resolve authorship disputes may also help reduce the proportion of HA [7]. Based on the estimated proportions of HA, attempts should be made by universities, medical journals and individual researchers to further reduce authorship misuse.…”

“…Another solution might be the referral to and endorsement of authorship guidelines by medical journals. Furthermore, implementing a support system to discuss and resolve authorship disputes may also help reduce the proportion of HA [ 7 ].…”

Honorary Authorship in Health Sciences: A Protocol for a Systematic Review of Survey Research

“…On the basis of this scoping search we concluded that HA merits a systematic review and that no prior systematic reviews seems to have covered this topic. Only 2 earlier reviews were identi ed, but these manuscripts gave narrative reviews on authorship issues [23], publication practices and responsible authorship [24] or systematically reviewed other authorship issues [25]. This research study may help design future studies and bring ideas on how to counteract HA.…”

Media and science. The handling of scientific information on SARS-CoV-2 in Mexican media

“…Por un lado, se mantiene vigente el debate de las últimas décadas: la producción de artículos científicos es criticada y acusada de obedecer a una lógica productivista de la ciencia. Los últimos análisis no sólo indagan sobre esta condición, sino sobre el impacto que puede a tener a nivel de responsabilidad ética en la publicación de los papers (Aliukonis, 2020), y desde luego en la calidad de la información publicada. Se trata de un fenómeno visible países emergentes y con alta productividad (Kwanya, 2018).…”