Beyond misconduct: forging an ethical future in academia

acts as a form of academic currency, a surrogate marker of scholarly productivity.Authorship also plays a key role in shaping a researcher's professional standing and career progression. 1 Nevertheless, pervasive issues of authorship misconduct threaten the integrity of academic publishing.In this Reflections article, we examine these challenges, contextualize the issue within broader systemic misconduct and toxic leadership, and propose meaningful reforms.Without decisive action, these unethical practices will continue to undermine trust in research and stifle innovation by marginalizing deserving contributors.We recently published our experience with editorial misconduct 1 that ensued after being invited to contribute a review article 2 to a special edition of a different, established, nonpredatory journal-to increase awareness and encourage others to also speak up.