Promoting Ethical Authorship Practices in Public and Global Health Research

Abstract

Authorship is a key component of scientific research that has significant academic, social and financial implications. Standard guidelines created by groups like the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) exist to define and promote good authorship practice and are widely adopted by journals across numerous disciplines. However, inequitable practices such as ghost, gift, and guest authorship, as well as underrepresentation of local authors from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), remain pressing issues within modern public and global health research. This governance paper explores the prevalence and underlying causes of these forms of author misrepresentation and evaluates the limitations of current policy frameworks intended to prevent them. To uphold the values core to academic research, including equity, transparency and accountability, actionable recommendations for researchers, editors and institutions are proposed. Policy Recommendations: (1) establish checks and balances within authorship guidelines; (2) ensure accurate authorship attribution by principal investigators; (3) implement authorship determination scorecards; (4) mandate guidelines to address LMIC author underrepresentation; (5) introduce diversity and inclusion questionnaires; (6) provide publication fee waivers for LMIC authors; (7) increase LMIC representation on editorial and peer-review boards; and (8) enforce reflexivity statements and authorship assessment checklists. Together, these strategies seek to preserve the ethics and integrity of academic research practice. Further dialogue from members of the public and global health community on the subject of authorship and the points brought forward by this article as welcomed and encouraged.