An Authorship Dilemma

[The following text is an example or "case", which can serve as a starting point for reflection and discussion. Some examples may be based on real events, while others are fictional representations.]

An example of this issue is described by a young surgeon who was about to submit a scientific article for review in a journal. He was approached by an older, senior colleague who asked to be included on the author list. The senior surgeon had not participated in the research project but was in the process of applying for a new position and "needed" additional articles on his publication list.

The young surgeon felt a certain sense of indebtedness to his senior colleague, who had been very helpful to him in many situations. "Does it really matter if I show a little generosity?" he asked himself and an advisor. "I am not competing with my senior colleague for a job, and I will still be the first author."

The advisor, unsurprisingly, recommended that the request for co-authorship be declined. He suggested that a key justification could be that the young surgeon was required to sign a cover letter confirming that all listed authors met the authorship criteria. At the same time, he could propose that the two colleagues start working on a new, joint article as soon as possible.

Is it too much to expect a young doctor to navigate such a moral dilemma, potentially risking the loss of a good friendship and collegial collaboration? Is it cowardly to use the journal’s requirement for a signed authorship confirmation as a reason to reject the request?

This case is taken from:
Sokol DK. The dilemma of authorship. BMJ 2008;336:478.

Note: This is a translation of the Norwegian text by Johanne Svanes Oskarsen.