Honorary and ghost authorship in high impact biomedical journals: a cross sectional survey.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To assess the prevalence of honorary and ghost authors in six leading general medical journals in 2008 and compare this with the prevalence reported by authors of articles published in 1996.

Design

Cross sectional survey using a web based questionnaire.

Setting

International survey of journal authors.

Participants

Sample of corresponding authors of 896 research articles, review articles, and editorial/opinion articles published in six general medical journals with high impact factors in 2008: Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA, Lancet, Nature Medicine, New England Journal of Medicine, and PLoS Medicine.

Main outcome measures

Self reported compliance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship for all

SUBMITTER: Wislar JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3202014 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature