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Updated: May 11, 2026

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Published on: August 21, 2013
Trends in authorship in the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, 1981-2020
Fahd Malik1, Jacob T Tribble1, Garth R Fraga1
1University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
Background:
The increase in authors per scientific article in many different medical and scientific disciplines has raised concerns over ethical authorship. Trends in authorship in dermatopathology are unknown.
Methods:
Cross-sectional study of a random sample of 200 articles from the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology (1981-2020).
Results:
The number of authors per article increased by an estimated 96% between 1981 and 2020 (2.7-5.3), while the relative citation ratio decreased by an estimated 56% during the same period (1.19-0.52). Higher author counts were not associated with higher relative citation ratios (p = 0.2349) or analytic study designs (p = 0.2987). Higher relative citation ratios were associated with analytic study designs (p = 0.0374).
Conclusions:
There has been significant growth in authorship credit at the journal without a corresponding increase in research impact or study rigor. Remedial measures to stem authorship inflation and promote more impactful studies may be necessary.
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