The Contributions of Authors to Multiauthored Biomedical Research Papers

Shapiro, David W.; Wenger, Neil S.; Shapiro, Martin F.

doi:10.1001/jama.1994.03510300044036

Cited by 240 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Studies of publications in other research fields have shown honorary [54–56] or “undeserved” [57] authors to be more prevalent in studies with more co-authors. Similarly, individual author contributions decreased with increasing number of co-authors per study in clinical and general science publications [30,32]. If non-compliant co-authors are randomly distributed across the overall population of co-authors in a given research field then larger studies would be more likely to contain a non-compliant co-author simply due to the fact that they represent a larger overall number of co-authors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Observed trends for middle authors may be a result of individual authors in such studies having more specialized, one-dimensional roles and/or a higher rate of gift authorship in larger studies. In a survey of author contributions, 30% (clinical research) and 21% (general science research) of secondary authors did not provide any intellectual contributions [30]. Assignment of last author positions varies among research disciplines and could correspond to authors with the smallest contributions or senior authors [9,58].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many individual studies have documented the prevalence of authorship irregularities in the biomedical research field [30–33]. Approximately 10 to 20% of surveyed lead authors of medical research articles reported honorary authorship among their co-authors [31,33] while nearly one third of co-authors lacked the intellectual contributions needed to fulfill ICMJE requirements [30,32]. Ghost authorship is also prevalent in biomedical research with approximately 20 to 30% of surveyed authors identifying either direct involvement in the practice or awareness of a colleague wrongfully denied authorship [34,35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Author contributions to ecological publications: What does it mean to be an author in modern ecological research?

Logan

Bean²,

Myers³

2017

PLoS ONE

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Authorship is a central element of scientific research carrying a variety of rewards and responsibilities, and while various guidelines exist, actual author contributions are often ambiguous. Inconsistent or limited contributions threaten to devalue authorship as intellectual currency and diminish authors’ responsibility for published content. Researchers have assessed author contributions in the medical literature and other research fields, but similar data for the field of ecological research are lacking. Authorship practices in ecological research are broadly representative of a variety of fields due to the cross-disciplinary nature of collaborations in ecological studies. To better understand author contributions to current research, we distributed a survey regarding co-author contributions to a random selection of 996 lead authors of manuscripts published in ecological journals in 2010. We obtained useable responses from 45% of surveyed authors. Reported lead author contributions in ecological research studies consistently included conception of the project idea, data collection, analysis, and writing. Middle and last author contributions instead showed a high level of individual variability. Lead authorship in ecology is well defined while secondary authorship is more ambiguous. Nearly half (48%) of all studies included in our survey had some level of non-compliance with Ecological Society of America (ESA) authorship guidelines and the majority of studies (78%) contained at least one co-author that did not meet International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) requirements. Incidence of non-compliance varied with lead author occupation and author position. The probability of a study including an author that was non-compliant with ESA guidelines was lowest for professor-led studies and highest for graduate student and post doctoral researcher-led studies. Among studies with > two co-authors, all lead authors met ESA guidelines and only 2% failed to meet ICMJE requirements. Middle (24% ESA, 63% ICMJE) and last (37% ESA, 60% ICMJE) authors had higher rates of non-compliance. The probability of a study containing a co-author that did not meet ESA or ICMJE requirements increased significantly with the number of co-authors per study although even studies with only two co-authors had a high probability of non-compliance of approximately 60% (ICMJE) and 15 to 40% (ESA). Given the variable and often limited contributions of authors in our survey and past studies of other research disciplines, institutions, journals, and scientific societies need to implement new approaches to instill meaning in authorship status. A byline approach may not alter author contributions but would better define individual contributions and reduce existing ambiguity regarding the meaning of authorship in modern ecological research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Author contributions to ecological publications: What does it mean to be an author in modern ecological research?

Logan

Bean²,

Myers³

2017

PLoS ONE

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“…The original research articles with ECAs originated from various regions all over the world. These findings seemed to suggest that it was difficult to accurately discern the contributions of authors based only on their byline positions [7].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Equal Contributions and Credit: An Emerging Trend in the Characterization of Authorship in Major Anaesthesia Journals during a 10-Yr Period

Sun

et al. 2013

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundThe practice of giving certain authors equal credit in original research publications was increasingly common in some specialty. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of designating some authors with equally credited authors (ECAs) in major anaesthesia journals.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe practice of giving authors equal credit was searched and identified in the three major anaesthesia journals between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2011. Papers with ECAs had a higher proportion of the total number of articles in 2011 versus published in 2002 (Anesthesiology, 8.8% vs. 0.9%; British Journal of Anaesthesia, 8.8% vs. 0%; Anesthesia & Analgesia, 3.4% vs. 0.3%; totally, 6.4% vs. 0.4%). A significant increasing trend in annual proportion of articles with ECA was found in the three journals. The first two authors listed in the byline had equal credit in most cases.Conclusions/SignificanceThe practice of giving authors equal credit in original research papers is increasingly common in major anaesthesia journals. It may be warranted for the journals to guide the authors how to regard this practice.

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“…Several studies, based on papers published between 1989 and 2000, have shown that the first authors, and to a lesser extent last authors, have contributed more than others. [11][12][13][14] However, the evidence remains limited. In two studies, 11 14 the contributions were rated by corresponding authors, who Thinker, Soldier, Scribe: cross-sectional study of researchers' roles and author order in the Annals of Internal Medicine Thomas ► We analysed 10 potential contributions of authors of research articles published in a leading medical journal, and we linked them to author order on the byline.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinker, Soldier, Scribe: cross-sectional study of researchers' roles and author order in theAnnals of Internal Medicine

et al. 2017

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ObjectiveHow researchers’ contributions relate to author order on the byline remains unclear. We sought to identify researchers’ contributions associated with author order, and to explore the existence of author profiles.DesignObservational study.SettingPublished record.Participants1139 authors of 119 research articles published in 2015 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.Primary outcomesPresence or absence of 10 contributions, reported by each author, published in the journal.ResultsOn average, first authors reported 7.1 contributions, second authors 5.2, middle authors 4.0, penultimate authors 4.5 and last authors 6.4 (p<0.001). The first author made the greatest contributions to drafting the article, designing the study, analysing and interpreting the data, and providing study materials or patients. The second author contributed to data analysis as well and to drafting the article. The last author was most involved in obtaining the funding, critically revising the article, designing the study and providing support. Factor analysis yielded three author profiles—Thinker (study design, revision of article, obtaining funding), Soldier (providing material or patients, providing administrative and logistical support, collecting data) and Scribe (analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the article, statistical expertise). These profiles do not strictly correspond to byline position.ConclusionsFirst, second and last authors of research articles made distinct contributions to published research. Three authorship profiles can be used to summarise author contributions. These findings shed light on the organisation of clinical research teams and may help researchers discuss, plan and report authorship in a more transparent way.

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The Contributions of Authors to Multiauthored Biomedical Research Papers

Cited by 240 publications

References 17 publications

Author contributions to ecological publications: What does it mean to be an author in modern ecological research?

Author contributions to ecological publications: What does it mean to be an author in modern ecological research?

Equal Contributions and Credit: An Emerging Trend in the Characterization of Authorship in Major Anaesthesia Journals during a 10-Yr Period

Thinker, Soldier, Scribe: cross-sectional study of researchers' roles and author order in theAnnals of Internal Medicine

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