Authorship of a medical or scientific publication is a fundamental aspect of a researcher’s career. In addition to being a source of prestige and recognition, authorship carries significant academic, social, and economic implications.
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) defines an Author as an individual who has made a substantial contribution to the work, participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript, and approved the final version for publication. A fourth criterion, added more recently, is accountability—the assumption of responsibility by the Author for ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the published article and for addressing any questions that may arise, particularly in cases of suspected misconduct.
According to this requirement, every author should fully understand the work, know who the co-authors are, trust in their scientific competence and integrity, and accept public responsibility for the publication.
Substantial contribution: ghost authors and guest authors
Providing a substantial contribution means making an important intellectual contribution without which part or all of the work could not have been completed or published. However, determining precisely what level of involvement constitutes a substantial contribution can be challenging, especially in studies involving multiple teams.
Several journal editors have emphasized the need for greater transparency in authorship practices in order to clearly recognize individual contributions and prevent the overall value of a publication from being diluted among all authors. To address this issue, some journals require a statement of individual contributions that details each author’s role in the work.
Other proposed solutions include contribution badges—color-coded labels indicating which ICMJE criteria have been fulfilled by each author—or numerical scoring systems that assign credit according to an individual’s level of contribution.
It is important to note that the issues of ghost authorship and guest authorship remain significant concerns. According to a recent survey, approximately one-third of respondents reported either being excluded from a publication despite making a substantial contribution (ghost authorship) or being pressured to include as an author someone who had not directly contributed to the work (guest authorship).
Hierarchy and teamwork
The order of authors is another important aspect of scientific publishing. The greatest recognition is generally reserved for the first author—typically the individual who contributed most substantially to the work—and the last author, often regarded as the guarantor who assumes responsibility for the project from its inception through publication.
Given the personal investment involved and the importance attached to author position, it is advisable that the author order be discussed and agreed upon at the beginning of the project, and subsequently reviewed before publication based on actual contributions. This can help prevent disputes and misunderstandings among collaborators.
Establishing authorship order has become increasingly complex due to the rapid growth in the number of co-authors involved in both basic and clinical research. This trend is partly driven by the expansion of team-based research and the increasing complexity of scientific studies, although it may also be influenced by the practice of dividing a single body of work into multiple publications to increase citation rates.
As a result, authorship guidelines may need to evolve to reflect modern collaborative research and large-group publications. An increasing number of authors not only raises the potential for disputes, but also makes it more difficult to clearly define individual contributions, assign appropriate credit, and determine who bears ethical responsibility in cases of misconduct.
Source
Alfonso F, Zelveian P, Monsuez JJ, et al. Authorship: from credit to accountability. Reflections from the Editors’ Network. Basic Research in Cardiology. 2019;114(3):23. doi:10.1007/s00395-019-0729-y.