Q: Can someone who has revised a paper but not collected the data be granted authorship?
Graduate student A is going to graduate soon, but some of the data presented in his dissertation is not published in an SCI paper yet. Supervisor B is very unhappy. He thinks that it is a shameful waste of lab resources if the paper is not completed. But supervisor B is also very busy and does not have the time to check this paper in detail. Student A discussed this with PhD colleague C and wants to give this incomplete paper to him to revise. C will be first author and B will be the corresponding author.
The three of them discussed and felt this is a good way to move ahead; however, they are not sure if this is ethical and reasonable. Though there are many people doing this kind of an arrangement here, people around would still talk about it. Is there a standard guideline? I want to know if this is unethical. Will it have negative impact if found?
Asked on 30 Apr, 2018
As per the ICMJE and COPE guidelines, for claiming authorship on a paper, a person must have done the following:
- Substantially contributed to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafted the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Finally approved the version to be published; AND
- Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
In the case you have described, a lot depends on the extent of revision that C is undertaking. If C is making a substantial intellectual contribution to the paper and meets all the other requirements mentioned above, he/she can be given authorship. If however, the revision is more on the lines of a review wherein C provides his/her comments and A makes the necessary changes, it would not be ethical to make C a co-author. If this is the case, a word of thanks to C for his/her critical review of the paper in the Acknowledgments section would suffice.
If a person who does not qualify to be an author is unethically granted authorship, it would sooner or later, be detected, and this would adversely affect his/her reputation and career. For instance, if the person who claims authorship cites the publication in his/her CV and is asked to elaborate on these findings/study, during career progression or job interviews, he/she may not be able to do so since he/she might not have the expertise in the methodologies or subject area of the study. This would impact the credibility of the person.
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