Questionable authorship and the problem of dirty hands: throwing missing authorship into the ring. In response to both Bulow and Helgesson, and Tang

Abstract

The unethical practice of gift authorship and hostage authorship was portrayed in detail in previous issues of Research Ethics. The aim of this short article is to explore the impact of penalising junior researchers for partaking in gift authorship, and the occurrence and implications of missing authorship in publication. It concludes with reflections on current guidelines and suggestions put forth by Bulow and Helgesson, and Tang, and potential strategies for counteracting the frequency with which both occur.