Effects of Author Contribution Disclosures and Numeric Limitations on Authorship Trends

doi:10.4065/mcp.2010.0291

Mayo Clinic Proceedings

Volume 85, Issue 10, October 2010, Pages 920-927

https://doi.org/10.4065/mcp.2010.0291 Get rights and content

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether editorial policies designed to eliminate gratuitous authorship (globally referred to as authorship limitation policies), including author contribution disclosures and/or numeric restrictions, have significantly affected authorship trends during a 20-year period.

METHODS

We used a custom PERL-based algorithm to extract data, including number of authors, publication date, and article subtype, from articles published from January 1, 1986, through December 31, 2006, in 16 medical journals (8 with explicit authorship guidelines restricting authorship and 8 without formal authorship policies), comprising 307,190 articles. Trends in the mean number of authors per article, sorted by journal type, article subtype, and presence of authorship limitations, were determined using Sen's slope analysis and compared using analysis of variance and matched-pair analysis. Trend data were compared among the journals that had implemented 1 or both of these formal restrictive authorship policies and those that had not in order to determine their effect on authorship over time.

RESULTS

The number of authors per article has been increasing among all journals at a mean ± SD rate of 0.076±0.057 authors per article per year. No significant differences in authorship rate were observed between journals with and without authorship limits before enforcement (F=1.097; P=.30). After enforcement, no significant change in authorship rates was observed (matched pair: F=0.425; P=.79).

CONCLUSION

Implementation of authorship limitation policies does not slow the trend of increasing numbers of authors per article over time.

Section snippets

Journal Selection, Article Categorization, and Identification of Authorship Regulation

Sixteen well-known medical journals were selected for study on the basis of journal subtype (general medical journal vs specialty medical journal) and the presence or absence of ICMJE-derived authorship limitation policies. On the basis of MEDLINE classification criteria,¹⁷ articles from each journal were subtyped as original research, randomized controlled trials, multicenter trials, or review articles. Dates of enforcement of authorship policies were identified using a combination of PubMed,

RESULTS

Using the data collection and analysis strategy described in the Methods section, we identified and analyzed yearly authorship trends for 16 medical journals (Table 1). In total, 307,190 journal articles were included, representing all indexed articles published from these 16 journals during a 20-year interval (1986-2006). Article and journal distributions are represented in Figure 1 and Figure 2 and are quantified in the eTable.

Analysis of authorship during the 20-year period using Sen's slope

DISCUSSION

The current study demonstrates that, irrespective of implementation of author contribution attestation requirements or author limits per article, the number of authors per article continues to increase over time. This observation appears to be valid for all journal classifications and article types. On the basis of the Sen's slope estimates of all articles, mean authorship rates have increased by approximately 1.5 authors per article over the 20-year interval. Authorship for multicenter trials

CONCLUSION

Undeserving authorship will remain a concern of journals and academicians who work to ensure fidelity in attribution of ideas and work to the appropriate individuals. Our analysis suggests that the long-term trend in increasing authorship has not been affected by formal efforts to prohibit undeserving authorship. These findings should reduce concerns that the observed trend of increasing authorship is a result of undeserving authorship and instead suggest that we should reexamine the causes of

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Supporting Online Material

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ORIGINAL ARTICLEEffects of Author Contribution Disclosures and Numeric Limitations on Authorship Trends

OBJECTIVE

METHODS

RESULTS

CONCLUSION

Section snippets

Journal Selection, Article Categorization, and Identification of Authorship Regulation

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

J Clin Epidemiol

Soc Sci Med

J Clin Epidemiol

Lancet

Does activity in research correlate with visibility?

J Clin Pathol

Publish together or perish: the increasing number of authors per article in academic journals is the consequence of a changing scientific culture: some researchers define authorship quite loosely

Dtsch Arztebl Int

A descriptive analysis of authorship within medical journals, 1995-2005

South Med J

Authorship, why not just toss a coin?

Am J Physiol Cell Physiol

Author, contributor or just a signer? A quantitative analysis of authorship trends in the field of bioethics

Bioethics

Multiple authors, multiple problems [editorial]

Science

Who's the author? Problems with biomedical authorship, and some possible solutions

Science Editor

Disclosure of researcher contributions: a study of original research articles in The Lancet

Ann Intern Med

Authorship for research groups

JAMA

Peer Review in Health Sciences

World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects

JAMA

Accuracy of data in abstracts of published research articles

JAMA

The contributions of authors [editorial]

JAMA

Entrez Programming Utilities. Pubmed website

Statistical Methods for Environmental Pollution Monitoring

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Effects of Author Contribution Disclosures and Numeric Limitations on Authorship Trends