Role and responsibilities of authors in scientific writing

Scientific writing is the most crucial means of communicating scientific work. Publishing scientific writing is essential to the evolution of biomedical science and is also important for overall professional advancement and growth. Publications of scientific work enable authors to gain recognition and acknowledgment in a particular field at national and international platforms. A scientific paper is an organized description of a hypothesis and data that aid in the sharing of observations and conclusions. It is essential for advancing contemporary science, benefiting both established and aspiring researchers through these published pieces of literature.[1] The publication of scientific papers comes with a lot of obligations, and the author is associated with the creativity of the scientific piece of literature. Besides providing several advantages such as financial gains, academic recognition, and career appraisals, the author is always under constant scrutiny for any publication misconduct. Authorship has important academic, social, and financial implications, but it also entails accountability and obligation for work that has been published. Although the majority of scientific research is carried out properly and ethically, there are always incidences of publication of fabricated or altered data to draw false conclusions, and in such instances, the authors are always deemed responsible and accountable. Authorship establishes the link between the creation of a new idea and its originator, where the author is considered the legitimate originator of the scientific work and held accountable for the creation of new knowledge, new insights, and providing fresh perspectives to any problem. The definition depicting the significance of authorship defines it as: “Authorship refers to the listing of names of participants in all communications, both oral and written, of experimental results and their interpretation to scientific colleagues. It is the fulfillment of the responsibility to communicate research results to the scientific community for external evaluation, is the primary mechanism for determining the allocation of credit for scientific advances, and thus the primary basis for assessing a scientist’s contributions to developing new knowledge. As such, it potentially conveys great benefit, as well as responsibility.”[2] The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; (2) drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreement 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. Apart from this, ICMJE also recommends that an author should be able to identify which coauthors are responsible for specific other parts of the work and should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their coauthors.[3] The key elements for good authorship are depicted in Figure 1.Figure 1: Key elements for good authorshipAUTHORSHIP ISSUES Ethical issues regarding authorship encompass a variety of disputes related to the order of authorship, inclusion or exclusion of authors, and shifting concepts of the appropriate attribution of authorship, etc. It has been found that between 2% and 11% of all controversies in the scientific community are related to authorship and the majority of problems occur when there are more than two authors in an article.[4] In one of the studies published to determine the prevalence of articles with honorary authors and ghost authors (individuals not named as authors), it was found that out of the 809 articles, a total of 156 articles (19%) had evidence of honorary authors; 93 articles (11%) had evidence of ghost authors; and 13 articles (2%) had evidence of both.[5] Authorship disputes also arise when determining the order of authorship. The order of authors is determined by the level of involvement from the drafting to the final publication of the scientific literature. However, disagreements and dissatisfaction might occasionally arise, particularly regarding the first and corresponding authors. It is always the agreement and the decision among the group of authors to collectively decide the order of authors and corresponding authors. The position of the first author is preferred the most as it is typically perceived as the one with more credibility and leadership in publishing the work. In general, the advisor who develops and conceives the experiment is the last author, whereas the student who completes the majority of the background work is typically considered the first author. As per the definition provided by ICMJE, “the corresponding author is the one individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer-review, and publication process,” typically ensuring that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and disclosures of relationships and activities, are properly completed and reported, although these duties may be delegated to one or more coauthors.[3] AUTHORSHIP MISCONDUCT There are a variety of improper authorships, such as “guest,” “honorary,” “gift,” “ghost,” and “anonymous,” which are incompatible with is incompatible with the values, obligations, and moral obligations associated with publishing scientific work. Gift authorship is defined as coauthorship awarded to a person who has not contributed significantly to the study. Maybe termed as a guest or gift or honorary authorship, the practice of enlisting the name of an author who has not contributed in a meaningful way to the design, research, analysis, or writing of a paper is unacceptable in academic publications. Often, these guest or gift authors are well-known and respected peers in the field of research, further enhancing the chances of acceptance of publication on the inclusion of their name in the author list.[6] Ghost authors are those who participate in research, data analysis, and/or writing of a manuscript, but are not named or acknowledged. It is dishonest to omit an author who has made significant contributions.[7] This type of authorship is found very common in industry-initiated trials, where the data have suggested that in a cohort study of 44 industry-led trials, there was evidence of ghost authorship for 33 trials (75%), and the majority of the ghost authors identified were statisticians.[8] A guest authorship is granted to those who have not contributed to the paper with the understanding that their affiliation with it will raise its stature and increase the likelihood of its acceptance. However, one can include “guest” and “gift” authorship under “honorary” authorship as the distinction between “guest” authorship and “honorary” or “gift” authorship is negligible.[9] The authorship credit and order should be determined by the respective scholarly skills and professional contributions of the partners, and such authorship misconduct should be strictly avoided in medical literature. RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHOR/S Authorship is more than a list of names; it serves as a means of establishing accountability, responsibility, integrity, and credit in any scientific writing and research. It is a crucial part of each publication and is a well-informed, predetermined decision by the researcher based on an adequate understanding and synthesis of the guidelines of publications.[10] Although the authors should compose his/her unique work and research, they should make sure that in any instances in which they have obtained words or ideas from any other researcher or person, it is the prime responsibility and duty of the author to properly acknowledge and cite the work or to declare that the permission has been secured. The most impacted publications should be cited by the author and conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, is allowed only if permission has been obtained. Self-citations should be avoided; however, in cases where the authors have published a large amount of literature in their niche field and the subsequent paper is a continuation of previous papers, self-citations are inevitable. However, authors should refrain from introducing ideas that are not relevant to the scope of the paper and such scientific misconduct should be avoided by the author. It is unethical for authors to simultaneously submit the same work to multiple journals in the same or other languages. Plagiarism or misuse of ideas of other authors, improper authorship, simultaneous publication, salami slicing, and failure to declare conflicts of interest are examples of several types of scientific misconduct that should be refrained in scientific writing by the authors. Authorship shall be decided mutually by the author giving due credit to the amount of contribution made by the contributors. Any changes to authorship (addition/ removal) after acceptance or sometimes after publication are possible if all co-authors agree to this amendment and have individually signed the requisition sent to the editor of the journal. Since, there are no rules on deciding the number of authors in a publication, it is thus recommended to include all those who qualify as authors and the order of authorship should be a joint decision of the coauthors. Further, authorship misconduct such as guest authorship and ghost authorship should be avoided. It is the responsibility of every author who has read and approved the final paper, has contributed to the work, and is acquainted with the data provided. It should be made sure that every author has consented to have their names included in the publication and it is the responsibility of the author to declare that the manuscript is free of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification. The author must adhere to very relevant scientific integrity and ethical principles when conducting as well as during the documentation of the whole study. All authors must provide their phone numbers or other contact information to the journal office. It is the responsibility of the author to provide due credits to all funding sources and should disclose any potential conflicts of interest. The authors must disclose all affiliations and activities that may have an impact on their work, as such behavior is perceived as posing a conflict of interest, directly informing the readers and community of the possibility of bias rather than only evaluating authors’ conduct in publication. The sources of support for the work, such as sponsor names and an explanation of their involvement in the study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, report writing should be provided. A declaration stating that the supporting source was not involved in any of the matters or a potential conflict of interest should also be disclosed.[11] Within a manuscript, the funding statement should include only direct support for the work described. Complete disclosure by an author shows a dedication to transparency and contributes to preserving faith in scientific conduct in publications.[11] It is the responsibility of the author to disclose the information that they have used artificial intelligence-assisted technology (such as chatbots, image makers, or large language models) to produce their work and if possible, in the pertinent portion of their submitted work, authors should describe how they use such technologies. With the development and advancement of digital technology, the authors can easily edit or improve images captured; thus, the author should abide by the policy statements to ensure that the authenticity of any photos/images submitted is authentic and not altered. Authors should always have copies of the original digital image file and should be able to reproduce them in case of any question related to scientific integrity. The images of the patient that preclude anonymity, or a description that has an obvious indication of the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript. There are many online software which can detect plagiarism and it is the responsibility of the author to use such software to proofread their work before sending it to the journal and avoid plagiarism and give proper acknowledgment to other works. The author should take direct responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Predatory publishing harms both the author and the community; thus, predatory publishing should be avoided. It is advised to the authors to recognize reliable and indexed journals by cross-checking the journal’s inclusion in the mentioned databases. The reputation of the author gets tarnished by predatory publishing; thus, educating administrators, supervisors, and researchers about fraudulent publications can help prevent predatory publishing. Authorship in any scientific writing is a matter of pride that must be earned, rewarded, and announced. It is the responsibility of the journals and the institutions to enforce rules that will deter authorship manipulation and to check any unethical authorship practices. Providing proper education and awareness to budding researchers about good publication practices should be done to prevent unethical practices in the publication of scientific research. It is the responsibility of the institute/organization to resort and to ensure the authors involved abide by the COPE or ICMJE guidelines and recommendations for drafting and publishing any scientific work. JACR always welcomes good case reports for the betterment of science. To re-emphasize, good authorship is the backbone of any successful written work, whether it is a research paper, book, or article. It involves a combination of skills, practices, and values that distinguish excellent writers from mediocre ones. It requires dedication, discipline, and a passion for communication. The author by following mandatory guidelines for scientific writing can produce high-quality work that engages, informs, and inspires the targeted audience.