Honorary or gift authorship
From The Embassy of Good Science
ThemesHonorary or gift authorship
What is this about?
Honorary authorship and gift authorship are two types of authorship frauds in research. Both honorary and gift authorship refers to assigning authorship to those who have not contributed significantly to study but are named authors for other reasons, such as enhanced funding and publication opportunities.
Why is this important?
Authorship has important academic implications and authors are accountable for published research [1]. Research showed that naming as authors those who have not contributed significantly to the study is considered one of the most prevalent types of authorship frauds [2]. Honorary authorship is often related to established or famous senior researchers who are named authors just because they hold senior positions and can help junior or less established researchers obtain funding or enhance chances for publications, awards, and recognition in the research community. It is considered that honorary authorship is often given with the recipient’s knowledge or even asked or demanded by recipients [3]. This is especially an issue for junior researchers who may feel pressured to assign authorship to senior researchers or feel they own authorship in return for their advice or help [3][4]. Similarly, the gift authorship usually includes researchers adding one another as co-authors regardless of contributions to the study to enhance their publication profile and spread collaborative networks. In many cases, this type of authorship fraud leads to a false representation of research skills and expertise, which gives these researchers an unfair advantage in competing for career opportunities and awards [5].
For whom is this important?
What are the best practices?
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides recommendations for defining the roles of authors and contributors. The ICMJE recommends the four main criteria that should be taken into account for authorship. These criteria include a) substantial contribution related to the study design, data collection, data analysis, and data interpretation, and b) drafting and critically revising the work, and c) approval for the final version for publication, and d) accountability for all aspects of the work, including its integrity [6]. The ICMJE emphasizes that those who meet all four criteria should be assigned as authors and provides guidance for acknowledging those who do not meet all of the above-mentioned criteria but still contributed to the study and whose contribution should be acknowledged. The Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) is another example of guidance for avoiding authorship malpractices and disputes [7]. CRediT statement contains 14 items related to the authors’ contributions. For example, some of the items included in the statement are the authors’ contributions in conceptualization, methodology, analysis, writing and editing the manuscript, visualization, supervision, etc. Many publishers have already adopted the CRediT taxonomy and encourage authors to use it when providing authors contributions during the manuscript submission process [8].
Rea Ščepanović contributed to this theme. Latest contribution was Oct 07, 2021
Other information
Virtues & Values
Good Practices & Misconduct
- ↑ International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
- ↑ Reisig, M. D., Holtfreter, K., & Berzofsky, M. E. (2020). Assessing the perceived prevalence of research fraud among faculty at research-intensive universities in the USA. Accountability in research, 27(7), 457–475. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2020.1772060
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dalmeet Singh Chawla (2020) The gift of paper authorship, Nature index. Available from: https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/gift-ghost-authorship-what-researchers-need-to-know
- ↑ Harvey L. A. (2018) Gift, honorary or guest authorship, Spinal cord, 56(2): 91. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-017-0057-8
- ↑ Zaki S. A. (2011). Gift authorship - A cause for concern. Lung India : official organ of Indian Chest Society, 28(3), 232–233. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-2113.83994
- ↑ International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
- ↑ Allen, L., O’Connell, A. and Kiermer, V. (2019), How can we ensure visibility and diversity in research contributions? How the Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT) is helping the shift from authorship to contributorship. Learned Publishing, 32: 71-74. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1210
- ↑ CASRAI. CRediT – Contributor Roles Taxonomy. Available from: https://casrai.org/credit/
