Elsevier

Academic Radiology

Volume 22, Issue 12, December 2015, Pages 1587-1591
Academic Radiology

Original Investigation
Trends in Authorship Patterns in High-Impact Radiology Publications, 1980–2013

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2015.08.013Get rights and content

Rationale and Objectives

Concerns have been raised about authorship inflation in medical literature. The purpose of this study was to determine how the number of authors per radiology article has changed over time with regard to study type and geographic factors.

Materials and Methods

We collected data on study type, authorship count, and the country of the corresponding author for a sample of articles published in Radiology, American Journal of Roentgenology, and European Radiology in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2013. Only original research and review articles were considered. We computed trends in the mean number of authors per article for each journal and compared authorship trends between study types and geographic region. The study did not involve human subjects and was therefore exempt from institutional board review at our institution.

Results

A total of 682 articles were reviewed, of which 572 were original research articles (83.9%) and 110 review articles (16.1%). The overall number of authors per article doubled from 3.6 in 1980 to 7.3 in 2013 (P < .001). From 1990 to 2013, the largest absolute increase in authorship count was in Radiology (4.4–8.1, 84.1%, P < .001). The largest increase in authorship occurred in original research articles (3.7–7.8, 111%, P < .001). Although authorship counts were greatest in Asia over most study period, growth in authorship count was highest in Europe.

Conclusions

Authorship count has dramatically increased in radiology journals in the last 3 decades, particularly in original research articles and in Europe.

Section snippets

Methods

We collected data on study type, authorship count, and country of the corresponding author for a sample of articles published in Radiology, AJR, and European Radiology in the years 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2013. These journals were chosen because of their high impact factors in the field of radiology, their geographic diversity, and because related studies to ours have examined authorship patterns and authorship criteria in these journals.

We extracted information on study type, authorship count,

Results

A total of 682 articles were reviewed, of which 572 (83.9%) were classified as original research and 110 as review articles (16.1%). The number of original research articles versus review articles per journal per decade is summarized in Table 1. In each period, all three journals published a greater number of original research articles in comparison to review articles. For each journal, the proportion of all articles accounted for by original research was similar across periods. For instance,

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates that the average number of authors per publication dramatically increased from 1980 to 2013 in three major radiology journals: Radiology, AJR, and European Radiology. Among all journals, the largest relative increase in authorship count occurred in Radiology. Growth in authorship count was greater in original research articles compared with review articles. Although the average number of authors per manuscript was highest in Asia over the first half of the study period,

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    Sources of Support: None.

    Conflicts of Interest: None.

    Presented or Accepted for Presentation: No.

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