Losing young researchers in the authorship battle, under-reported casualties

Abstract

The joy and pride felt by a young researcher of being listed as an author in a published article could turn into sadness and disappointment if the work, he/she significantly contributed to was published without being listed among the authors or the order among the authors’ list was changed. If a young researcher is not oriented by the authorship guidelines and his/her rights as an author, he/she could be deceived without even knowing. This review focused on reporting some issues related to authorship misconduct with young researchers being the victims, shedding some light on the causes and possible solutions. Sometimes, the young researcher is forced to add an author who did not contribute to the research work. These abusive authorship practices, which were given different names such as a gift, honorary, and ghost authorship, usually are practiced by the more powerful senior on the weaker younger researchers, which might significantly affect the research community and individual researchers (especially the vulnerable junior researchers). Although various authorship determinant guidelines have been described, authorship misconduct is still being practiced even in a more skillful way that journal editors and readers could not detect, further making settling authorship disputes more challenging.