Thoughts on Authorship

Abstract

The purpose of authorship is to acknowledge the substantial and material contributions of individuals participating in scientific investigation and reporting while avoiding diminution and dilution of their contributions by individuals who have not provided equal or substantial contributions. In general, any scientific investigation requires a given total amount of effort (which obviously varies among studies) and the average contribution directly relates to the number of authors: the larger the number of authors the less the average contribution (see the parse analysis of Davis and Gregorman [9]). The increase in numbers of authors of medical papers is obvious to anyone who has read medical literature for more than 10 to 15 years. In the 1800s and early 1900s, scientific papers were uncommonly written by more than one author. By the mid 1900s, specialization and technical sophistication likely contributed to the beginning trend toward multiple authors. In some cases, the listing reflected “gift authorship” [11, 12, 18, 19]. In many situations, junior investigators undoubtedly felt compelled to include more senior individuals because they made some contribution either to the study and report or to their career, regardless of the level of contribution. An arising awareness of increasing numbers of authors [10, 17] and gift authorship in particular likely fueled in part the development of international editing and publishing groups (eg, Committee on Publication Ethics, Council of Science Editors) dealing with various ethical issues, including authorship. Several editors of orthopaedic journals also have expressed concerns about authorship [2–4]. In general, we request no more than five authors for an original article or four authors for case reports. Exceptions to these guidelines may include authorship for certain multidisciplinary studies, multi-institutional studies, and Levels I or II studies (prospective studies that involve more planning and organization and rigor). As noted previously, manuscripts reflecting studies with greater total effort, particularly in planning and execution, may readily fulfill the guidelines for greater numbers of authors. In all cases, however, multiple contributions of each author must be documented in our cover letter. CORR authorship guidelines are based on an amalgamation of those from several international editing organizations (see below), the Professionalism Guidelines of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and various articles in the literature [6, 7, 9, 13, 15]. While there is no one accepted standard for authorship, the elements of scientific investigation and reporting are generally established. Our guidelines reflect a synthesis of recommendations from these various organizations and those in the literature.