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Writing Contribution
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Failure to Mention
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Term
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does not meet criteria for being an author
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in acknowledgements
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ghostwriting
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meets criteria for being an author
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in author byline
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ghost authorship
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Practices that may be problematic:
(1) failure to disclose funding
(2) failure to mention the medical writer in an appropriate manner (such as in the acknowledgement section or author byline)
(3) failure of the purported authors to be sufficiently engaged in the preparation of the manuscript
(4) significant lack of transparency
(5) falsifying data or intentional misuse of statistics
(6) failure to adhere to ethical guidelines followed by medical writers and researchers
The typical scenario of concern is when a company fabricates data to promote a product then pays a scientist to place his or her name on the paper, making the article look more legitimate than it really is.
This must be differentiated from:
(1) legitimate use of a medical writer
(2) accident
