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Authorship commerce: Bylines for sale
Francesco Chirico1,2, Katrina Andrea Bramstedt3,4
1Post-graduate School of Occupational Health, Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Accountability in Research
|September 27, 2021
Summary
Authorship commerce (AC), a form of guest authorship involving bribery, is an unethical practice that is difficult to detect. Solutions include researcher education, clear guidelines, ethical incentives, and protected whistleblowing channels to combat this academic misconduct.
Area of Science:
- Academic publishing ethics
- Research integrity
Background:
- Scholarly authorship is crucial for academic recognition, career advancement, and tenure.
- Authorship commerce (AC) represents a severe form of academic misconduct, often involving bribery and potentially underreported due to detection challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To discuss the phenomenon of authorship commerce (AC) as a form of guest authorship.
- To identify factors contributing to AC and propose proactive solutions to mitigate this unethical practice.
Main Methods:
- This commentary discusses authorship commerce (AC) through a qualitative analysis of its characteristics and contributing factors.
- It reviews existing pressures within academic publishing and funding environments that may facilitate AC.
Main Results:
- Authorship commerce (AC) is linked to bribery and is an extreme form of misconduct that is difficult to detect.
- Pressures to publish in high-impact open-access journals with high fees, alongside funding constraints, can foster AC.
Conclusions:
- Proactive measures are essential to combat authorship commerce (AC).
- These include enhancing junior researcher awareness, establishing explicit prohibition guidelines, implementing author declarations, promoting ethical publication metrics, reducing publishing fees, and offering robust discount/waiver programs.
- Anonymous and protected whistleblowing channels are vital for reporting AC.