Trends in authorship in the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, 1981–2020

Abstract

BackgroundThe increase in authors per scientific article in many different medical and scientific disciplines has raised concerns over ethical authorship. Trends in authorship in dermatopathology are unknown.MethodsCross‐sectional study of a random sample of 200 articles from the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology (1981–2020).ResultsThe number of authors per article increased by an estimated 96% between 1981 and 2020 (2.7–5.3), while the relative citation ratio decreased by an estimated 56% during the same period (1.19–0.52). Higher author counts were not associated with higher relative citation ratios (p = 0.2349) or analytic study designs (p = 0.2987). Higher relative citation ratios were associated with analytic study designs (p = 0.0374).ConclusionsThere has been significant growth in authorship credit at the journal without a corresponding increase in research impact or study rigor. Remedial measures to stem authorship inflation and promote more impactful studies may be necessary.