END HONORARY AUTHORSHIP

Two articles in Science (1, 2) take on the problem of Honorary Authorship. The authors state that: "Credit for scientific research contributions must be clearly and appropriately assigned at the time of publication." They cite recent evidence that honorary authors were attached to 25% of research papers, 15% of review articles, and 11% of editorials published in six major medical journals in 2008.

"A true author is someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a study, and is responsible for a component of the work."

I have had to reject some modules from Photobiological Sciences Online, because of the obvious addition of honorary authors, and the refusal of the main author to remove them. Even so, a few such honorary authors have slipped into Photobiological Sciences Online, including deceased authors.

Honorary Authorship should no longer be tolerated in science, and will no longer be tolerated in Photobiological Sciences Online.

1. Ending Honorary Authorship, P. Greenland and P.B. Fontanarosa, Science 337, 1019, 2012.
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2. Comments on the Above Article.
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