Academic integrity is the fundamental law of scholars. Observing its rules and principles is a mandatory requirement for researchers in any field, especially when it comes to scientific publications in medicine. This also applies to co-authored works, as the boundary of academic integrity violations there is rather subtle. In our article, we will discuss academic integrity in co-authored medical publications, as well as how to avoid possible conflicts.
What is academic integrity?
Academic integrity is a system of ethical rules and principles that participants in the academic process must observe.
The following aspects are considered violations of academic integrity:
- plagiarism (including the appropriation of another person’s work)
- self-plagiarism
- fabrication
- falsification
- citation manipulation
- improper authorship
- concealing the fact of AI use
- cooperation with predatory journals or publishers
Co-authorship in medical publications
In the academic environment, medical research is one of the most delicate types of publication, to which a considerable number of ethical requirements apply. In the context of co-authored publications, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) has established clear principles regarding authorship in medical publications. It is noted that authorship must be clearly defined, together with each author’s contribution to the work, in order to avoid “pseudo-authorship” or “scientific plagiarism”.
In scientific publications, including medical ones, conflicts regarding co-authorship most often arise not because of the fact of collaboration itself, but because of unclear agreement on the roles of the authors, their order, and the absence of a description of each person’s actual contribution to the work. In the medical publishing environment, the ICMJE criteria are the primary standard. A person should be regarded as an author only if they:
- made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data
- participated in writing or critically revising the text
- approved the final version
- agreed to take responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the work
If at least one of these criteria is not met, it is more appropriate to list the person not as an author, but in the acknowledgements section or in the statement of contributions to the work.
Academic integrity in medical publications
As we can see, one of the most important conditions of co-authored publications in medicine is a transparent description of each author’s contribution. That is why many journals require a contributorship statement. This means that it is necessary to provide a detailed description of who developed the research design, who worked with patients or clinical data, who edited the text, who was responsible for the final review, and so on. This approach reduces the risk of “honorary” authorship, manipulation of author order, and so forth.
In co-authored medical publications, it is important to be prepared to answer additional questions from the editorial office, for example regarding the sources of the data obtained, ethical standards and approvals, patients’ informed consent, and so forth. For scholars wishing to publish their research in co-authorship, it is important not to list as authors people who may not have read the full text of the work. This may jeopardise the publication of the research and negatively affect the scholars’ reputation.
How can conflicts in co-authored medical publications be avoided?
To avoid conflicts, the rules of co-authorship should be defined before work on the manuscript begins, rather than immediately before the article is submitted. At the very outset, the team should agree in writing on the responsibilities of each participant, under what conditions a new co-author may be added, and how the order of authors will change if the scope of contribution expands.
COPE separately emphasises that disputes over authorship are best resolved within the research group and institution at an early stage. This is because after submission or publication, it will be much more difficult to amend the work or the information provided to the editorial office.
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