Unconsented acknowledgments as a form of authorship abuse: What can be done about it?

Abstract

Unwelcome or unconsented acknowledgments is an unethical practice seldom addressed. It constitutes a form of authorship abuse perpetrated in the acknowledgments section of published research, where the victim is credited as having made a contribution to the paper, without having given their consent, and often without having seen a draft of the paper. The acknowledgment may be written in such a way as to imply endorsement of the study’s data and conclusions. Through a real-life case, this paper explores the issue of unconsented acknowledgments and makes recommendations to prevent its occurrence, thereby promoting research integrity.

How to Publish Like Artificial Intelligence and Obey the Rules of the Game?

“…Hence, the article highlights the importance of social support in an academic environment, collaboration, and networking. This Aiyebelehin, 2021;Koljatic, 2021;Resnik, 2020;Williamson et al, 2021). These have implications on the conduct of research activities and academics obeying the rules of the game while setting the goal to publish like an AI machine.…”

“…(Aiyebelehin, 2021). Another ethical dilemma has been described by Koljatic (2021) as unwelcome or unconsented acknowledgements which constitutes a form of authorship abuse perpetrated in the acknowledgements section of published research, where the victim is credited as having contributed to the paper, without having given their consent, and often without having seen a draft of the paper. Akhabue & Lautenbach (2010) add that there is a dilemma of what constitutes the most ethical, transparent and fair way to credit authors for their contribu-Voice of the Publisher tions to an original published work?…”

“…Therefore, it is common to see publications with certain authors explicitly designated as having "contributed equally" to the manuscript (Akhabue & Lautenbach, 2010: p. 2). Preventing "add my name", unconsented acknowledgements and gifted authorship require that more than one individual or one institution take responsibility for ensuring its regulation and prevention (Koljatic, 2021;Tubig & McCusker, 2021).…”

“…There is a decline in the quality of publications and some publishers are fishing for manuscripts (Brondz, 2015). The claim that "all authors have contributed equally to a study" may not be practicable (Akhabue & Lautenbach, 2010 (Koljatic, 2021). This article develops awareness of basic research ethical dilemmas and proposes 12 simple rules to guide academic researchers towards publishing like AI but obey the rules of the game to overcome the impact of "publish or perish".…”

Author's response

“…If Price's suggestion was followed, it might deter research groups from including so many co-authors in publications emanating from their laboratories. Those making useful contributions to the completion of a research project, but not writing the article, might be mentioned in the acknowledgment section of the final publication [13]. Many years ago, the International Committee of Medical Journal…”