Questioning the Importance of Authorship

Why is authorship attribution important? Aside from the fundamental issues of honesty, ethics, and integrity, correctly listing authors allows general readers and scientists to know the appropriate attribution of the publication to a particular author. 1, 2 Without appropriate attribution, it remains uncertain who assumes responsibility for the work published. As Hewitt stated, “Authorship cannot be conferred; it may be undertaken by one who will shoulder the responsibility that goes with it.” 3 Thus, with the rights of authorship come the inherent responsibilities. A general rule of thumb suggests that an author should be able to defend the content of the paper if challenged publicly. 3 Thus, only authors should be listed as authors. Although this sounds straightforward, the general agreement and implementation of this concept are less than clear. 4, 5, 6

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) developed guidelines in an attempt to provide a more clear definition of authorship. As stated in these guidelines, each author should meet all 3 of the following criteria: “1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published.” 7 Yet even with this cogent definition, there seems to be issues with compliance. 2, 4

Clouding the issue of authorship may be the accolades that people receive for being listed as an author on a paper. For faculty, recognition of their scholarly works may lead to rank advancement or tenure. For scientists, validation of successful completion and publication of projects demonstrates their worthiness for grant awards and continued funding. With the potential for reaping rewards from authorship comes a potential for abuse. Some who have only been marginally involved with a project may expect or even demand authorship, but may be unwilling or unable to uphold the role of true authorship. 3, 6

Examples of guest/honorary/gift authorship may include listing an esteemed person as author possibly in hopes of the paper having a better chance of acceptance, or listing a supervisor or department chair as author, although they do not qualify as an author, to accommodate political favors. 3 Someone may only assist in a marginal way, such as obtaining funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the project. These are additional situations that do not qualify for authorship, as suggested by the ICMJE, unless the 3 criteria for authorship are additionally met. 3, 6

Another inappropriate scenario is when a person who qualifies to be an author is not listed as an author; this is otherwise known as ghost authorship. 1, 3 Sometimes these authors work for hire, thus are paid for their services of writing scientific papers. A ghost author may also be a graduate student who has done a majority of the work, but is not appropriately recognized. Regardless if they are paid or not, if they qualify as authors, they should be listed as authors.

Should people who contribute, but do not qualify as authors, be listed in the published paper? Absolutely. The acknowledgments section is reserved for people who do not meet the criteria for authorship, but were involved with the study and should be given credit for their participation. Typically, the specific action contributed is listed in this section and each person named must give written permission to be acknowledged. 3, 7

Some argue that the ICMJE definition of authorship is too strict or limiting, especially with complex research projects in which many people are involved. 6, 8 On the horizon is perhaps the next step in the evolution of attribution of work to publications: contributorship and guarantorship. 6 Contributorship provides a clear statement about how each person was involved with the study and guarantorship clearly names the person responsible for the entirety of the project. Whether the movement toward contributorship and guarantorship will solve the problems we are experiencing with authorship, or create a myriad of new problems, has yet to be seen.