Disclosure of Author Contributions in Scientific Publications
THIRAVAT HEMACHUDHA,M.D.*, HENRY WILDE, M.D.*
Affiliation : * Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok I 0330, Thailand.
The number of authors on published papers can range as high as 10 and many of us frequently wonder who did what and who is ultimately res- ponsible for the accuracy and proper interpretation of the study as well as who conceived it in the first place. It is also common practice worldwide to include the names of heads of departments or divi- sions as authors who, frequently, have done no more than approve the conduct of the research. Is it not time to look at these practices and see how they can be structured so that one might know more about the conduct of a particular study with-out having an inside informer from the author's institution? Indeed, there have been some moves by respectable journals (Lancet, New England journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, American Journal of Public Health and the Annals of Internal Medicine for a start) to implement listing of the nature of work contributed by each person who appears on the byline( I ,2). This new custom still allows giving credits in the form of an "acknow- ledgment" to heads of department, financial sup- porters and others who provided indirect help in the performance of the study.
Keywords : Disclosure, Publication, Author
