PLoS Medicine discusses how to prevent ‘ghostwriting’

A fascinating article by Professors Stern and Leemens of the University of Toronto on the practice of ‘ghostwriting’ of medical journal articles. They argue that a legal approach could be more effective at prevent ghostwriting and so-called ‘guest authors’ who are listed as authors on ghostwritten articles even though they do not fulfill criteria for authorship.

Guidance on good practice in authorship, such as UKRIO’s Code of Practice for Research, states that the allocation of authorship to those who do not fulfill the necessary criteria is unacceptable.