Concerns about the degree to which inappropriate authorship in journal articles affects transparency and accountability are widespread in the academic community1. Inappropriate authorship is either honorary authorship, in which a named author did not substantially contribute to a work, or ghost authorship, in which an individual substantially contributes but is not credited as an author.
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) established criteria for determining authorship2. These include contributing to the design or data acquisition and analysis of the work, drafting or revising the work, final approval of the published version, and agreeing to be accountable for the work’s accuracy and integrity, the last of which was only recently added. Designated authors should meet all of these criteria, and those who do should be credited.
