Abstract
This issue of Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation includes an article by Rajasekaran et al that addresses the persistent, difficult,
and unsettled issue of unwarranted authorship as it applies to physical medicine and
rehabilitation. The findings that it exists and that its frequency is similar to the
25% to 50% rates reported in other medical specialties are discouraging but, unfortunately,
not surprising. They do, however, warrant discussion. This commentary attempts to
do so and begins with a review of Rajasekaran's findings. It then proceeds to compare
them with other work in the literature and concludes with a discussion of (1) why
unwarranted authorship matters; (2) if it matters, why does it matter; and (3) what
we as authors, editors, and the publishing world can do about it. Our goal is to give
us all an improved understanding of the situation as well a little more backbone when
dealing with the pressures associated with both overt and covert suggestions for the
inclusion of authors that we may believe are unwarranted.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Archives of Physical Medicine and RehabilitationAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Honorary authorship: frequency and associated factors in physical medicine and rehabilitation.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2014; 95: 418-428
- Honorary authorship in radiologic research articles: assessment of frequency and associated factors.Radiology. 2011; 259: 479-486
- Prevalence of honorary coauthorship in the American Journal of Roentgenology.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2012; 198: 1247-1255
Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 11, 2013
Footnotes
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has conferred or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Honorary Authorship: Frequency and Associated Factors in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Research ArticlesArchives of Physical Medicine and RehabilitationVol. 95Issue 3
