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Unethical Authorship in Scientific Publications (A Review of the Problem)

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Abstract

Unfair authorship in scientific publications is one of the most common types of violations of publication ethics, which is associated either with the unfair inclusion among authors of persons who do not meet the criteria for authorship, or, conversely, with the concealment of the real performers of scientific work. The main reasons for the intense spread of unethical behavior in relation to authorship in recent years include the imperfection of the science management system, which requires high rates of publication activity from researchers; partly discriminatory policies of journals in relation to young authors, which force them to include authoritative scientists as co-authors; and conflicts of interest in medical publications, which prompt pharmaceutical companies to exclude real the performers of the work. The scientific and publishing international communities have been offered a set of approaches both to the fight against unfair authorship and to its prevention, including the development of additional criteria for authorship; clarification of instructions and guidelines for authors, reviewers, and editors; and organization of training events to familiarize authors with the principles of publication ethics. The scientometric methods for identifying unacceptable types of authorship seem promising. This review article presents the current state of the problem and the ways to solve it that have been outlined by the professional community.

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Funding

The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research according to the research project no. 19-011-00534.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia

    V. N. Gureev, I. G. Lakizo & N. A. Mazov

  2. State Public Scientific Technological Library, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 630102, Novosibirsk, Russia

    V. N. Gureev, I. G. Lakizo & N. A. Mazov

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  1. V. N. Gureev
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Translated by L. Solovyova

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Gureev, V.N., Lakizo, I.G. & Mazov, N.A. Unethical Authorship in Scientific Publications (A Review of the Problem). Sci. Tech. Inf. Proc. 46, 219–232 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0147688219040026

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