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- Authorship in Hepatobilary & Pancreatic Diseases International

 Authorship in Hepatobilary & Pancreatic Diseases International

 

Medical research is mostly collaborative involving many workers with different contributions. Multiple authorship is thus common in biomedical publications. Authors publishing articles in medical journals can benefit from the recognition of their expertise, funding for future projects, promotion, and tenure on the academic ladder. Journal editors have reported experiences in dealing with authorship disputes, from 5% in nursing journals [1] to 30% in journals from a major publisher.[2] We believe that the awareness of co-authors can decrease the disputes.
 
Since August 2010, Hepatobilary & Pancreatic Diseases International (HBPD INT) has been using the ScholarOneTM Manuscripts online submission system, which has quickened the manuscript track with an average of 4.6 weeks from submission of an article to the decision-making. Unfortunately, we note that some authors have not taken authorship seriously, exampled by 1) authors who can not be identified in the submission system; 2) false email addresses; 3) wrong signature on the copyright form. Before submission, we strongly urge author(s) to read the checklist carefully, so that editors can quicken the editorial process while avoiding unnecessary changes in the format of submitted manuscripts. The listed authors are required to confirm that they take full responsibility for the content of their manuscripts by signing their names on the Letter of Copyright Transfer and meet the lines in the Copyright Law of China (Fig. 1). Each author should be identified by provided email to differentiate one author from another with similar name (Fig. 2).
 
Presently, it is difficult to estimate the real situation in other medical journals. But occasionally we do encounter different types of signature from authors of manuscripts. We wish the authors be aware of the importance of separate signature before submission of their manuscripts. For the same author, we prefer to use a ONLY email for identity differentiation. As authors are not criminals and editors should not be policemen,[3] we hope that all the authors in HBPD INT will take a serious attitude toward the signature as well as the email address provided. Once a false or ghost signature was caught, the reputation of the research center or author(s) may be turned down. The editorial staff may be alerted when new submission comes from that center or author(s).
 
Our journal follows the three-pronged ICMJE guidelines[4] to determine the authorship of a manuscript: substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, to acquisition of data, and to analysis and interpretation of the data; drafting or revising the manuscript for intellectual content; and final approval of the manuscript. All authors either receive credits from and have responsibility to the publication of scientific papers.
 
In 1994, Green recommended all journals to present the qualifications and functions of the authors and their academic promotion should be assessed not only by the quantity of, but the particular role in each publication.[5] In 1997, Smith pointed out the time for a paradigm shift for the authorship.[6] In practice, some coauthor had assigned inappropriate coauthorship, and some deserved authors had been excluded. The BMJ group has enforced the authorship screening by asking all corresponding authors to sign that the IMCJE criteria of authorship are met by all authors, but the reaction failed. Therefore the concept of contributorship has been raised and a guarantor has been suggested to guarantee the responsibility.[6] Smith's ideas won worldwide responses. Authorship of medical manuscripts is a world issue not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries. At the lounching of HBPD INT, we introduced the concept of authorship and conflicts of interest from www.icmje.org in China.[7,8] Early in 2005, HBPD INT has followed BMJ and others asking authors address each author's contribution and assign a guarantor at the end of the manuscript before submission.
 
We editors respect the contributions of all authors and their order in the byline of the manuscripts. Rennie believed that editors would be more relaxed and more willing to afford space if authors were to inform editors of their specific functions.[9] Authorship is a problem but is not too serious to be settled.[1, 10] More importantly, both authors and editors need to pay attention to scientific integrity and publication ethics in medical communication.
(2013-07-18 00:00:00.0 Visited: 1262


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