Ethical Concerns in the Rise of Co-Authorship and Its Role as a Proxy of Research Collaborations

Increasing specialization, changes in the institutional incentives for publication, and a host of other reasons have brought about a marked trend towards co-authored articles among researchers. These changes have impacted Science and Technology (S&T) policies worldwide. Co-authorship is ofte...

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Main Author: Sameer Kumar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-08-01
Series:Publications
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/6/3/37
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author Sameer Kumar
author_facet Sameer Kumar
author_sort Sameer Kumar
collection DOAJ
description Increasing specialization, changes in the institutional incentives for publication, and a host of other reasons have brought about a marked trend towards co-authored articles among researchers. These changes have impacted Science and Technology (S&T) policies worldwide. Co-authorship is often considered to be a reliable proxy for assessing research collaborations at micro, meso, and macro levels. Although co-authorship in a scholarly publication brings numerous benefits to the participating authors, it has also given rise to issues of publication integrity, such as ghost authorships and honorary authorships. The code of conduct of bodies such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) make it clear that only those who have significantly contributed to the study should be on the authorship list. Those who have contributed little have to be appropriately “acknowledged” in footnotes or in the acknowledgement section. However, these principles are sometimes transgressed, and a complete solution still remains elusive.
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spelling doaj.art-0b484cba824744f99cafbd602790e52c2022-12-22T04:28:20ZengMDPI AGPublications2304-67752018-08-01633710.3390/publications6030037publications6030037Ethical Concerns in the Rise of Co-Authorship and Its Role as a Proxy of Research CollaborationsSameer Kumar0Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, MalaysiaIncreasing specialization, changes in the institutional incentives for publication, and a host of other reasons have brought about a marked trend towards co-authored articles among researchers. These changes have impacted Science and Technology (S&T) policies worldwide. Co-authorship is often considered to be a reliable proxy for assessing research collaborations at micro, meso, and macro levels. Although co-authorship in a scholarly publication brings numerous benefits to the participating authors, it has also given rise to issues of publication integrity, such as ghost authorships and honorary authorships. The code of conduct of bodies such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) make it clear that only those who have significantly contributed to the study should be on the authorship list. Those who have contributed little have to be appropriately “acknowledged” in footnotes or in the acknowledgement section. However, these principles are sometimes transgressed, and a complete solution still remains elusive.http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/6/3/37co-authorshipscholarly publicationsresearch collaborationsethicsAPAICMJE
spellingShingle Sameer Kumar
Ethical Concerns in the Rise of Co-Authorship and Its Role as a Proxy of Research Collaborations
Publications
co-authorship
scholarly publications
research collaborations
ethics
APA
ICMJE
title Ethical Concerns in the Rise of Co-Authorship and Its Role as a Proxy of Research Collaborations
title_full Ethical Concerns in the Rise of Co-Authorship and Its Role as a Proxy of Research Collaborations
title_fullStr Ethical Concerns in the Rise of Co-Authorship and Its Role as a Proxy of Research Collaborations
title_full_unstemmed Ethical Concerns in the Rise of Co-Authorship and Its Role as a Proxy of Research Collaborations
title_short Ethical Concerns in the Rise of Co-Authorship and Its Role as a Proxy of Research Collaborations
title_sort ethical concerns in the rise of co authorship and its role as a proxy of research collaborations
topic co-authorship
scholarly publications
research collaborations
ethics
APA
ICMJE
url http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/6/3/37
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