“Listing author contribution” does not alter the author inflation in the publications in basic research in four major gastroenterology journals in 10 years

Abstract

The number of authors and their contributions in original research publications have drawn the attention of editors for years. Some journals specifically ask that the authors list their contributions on the title page. However, whether this requirement is useful remains unclear. The present study was to elucidate the author number trend over the past 10 years in four major gastroenterology journals. Four major journals in gastroenterology (Gastroenterology, Gut, Journal of Hepatology and Hepatology) between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2014 were searched. We limited the papers to basic research. The average number of authors of papers published in each journal were calculated and any changes in author numbers over the search period were compared. We found that Gastroenterology and Gut began to require the authors to list contributions in 2010 and Journal of Hepatology and Hepatology did the same in 2012. We therefore also investigated whether authorship numbers changed in studies published in Gastroenterology and Gut before and after 2010, and before and after 2012 in Journal of Hepatology and Hepatology. There has been an increase in author numbers over the past 10 years. This number was significantly increased in the papers published between 2010 and 2014 compared with those between 2005 and 2009 (p < 0.05 in all of the four journals). Author contribution requirements have not deterred the trend of increasing author numbers. The number of authors in basic science papers are increasing; the new requirement of listing authorship contributions has not affected this trend.