ABSTRACT
Under pressure to publish, academicians and research scientists are increasingly indulging in scientific misconduct leading to retraction of such papers when identified. Other reasons of retraction include scientific error and problems related to ethics. Four published manuscripts [three from Turkey and one from Pakistan] had to be retracted from Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences from January 2014 to July 2015 due to scientific misconduct. There is a need to search for effective measures which could help reduce the number of retractions and prevent scientific literature from being further polluted, which seems to be increasing every year
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and views of faculty members on criteria for authorship by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors [ICMJE], their current practice of choosing the authors, views on gift authorship and problems they had faced concerning authorship. It was a cross sectional survey from January 2011 to July 2011 among faculty members of various private and public sector medical institutions of Pakistan through a self-administered questionnaire. Main outcome measures included awareness and use of ICMJE criteria, which contribution to research merit authorship and their perceptions about gift authorship. Two hundred eighteen faculty members [180 males, 38 females] participated in the study. One hundred twenty eight [58.7%] were from surgery and allied disciplines. Ninety six percent had published between one to five papers while 60 [27.5%] had six to ten papers to their credit. One hundred eleven [50.9%] claimed they were aware about the authorship criteria, only twenty two [19.8%] could name this document. Only four [1.8%] could correctly state this. Only one hundred twenty [55.0%] said that all three criteria's must be met to be eligible for authorship. Ninety three [42.7%] said that they were not included as authors though they deserved it while sixty three said they did not merit but were still included. Forty two [19.3%] said that they were not aware when they were listed as authors. A vast majority of young faculty members are not aware of the existence of authorship criteria and gift authorship is quite common