Authorship in Radiation Oncology: Proliferation Trends Over 30 Years
Purpose: To investigate authorship trends in the radiation oncology literature. Methods and Materials: We examined the authorship credits of “original research articles” within 2 popular radiation oncology journals–International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics and Radiotherapy and Oncology–in 1984, 1994, 2004, and 2014. We compared the number of authors per publication during these 4 time periods using simple linear regression as a test for trend. We investigated additional author characteristics in a subset of articles. Results: A total of 2005 articles were eligible. The mean number of authors per publication rose from 4.3 in 1984 to 9.1 in 2014 (P<.001). On subset analysis of 400 articles, there was an increase in the percentage of multidisciplinary bylines (from 52% to 72%), multi-institutional bylines (from 20% to 53%), and publications with a trainee first author (from 16% to 56%) during the study period. Conclusions: The mean number of authors per publication has more than doubled over the last 30 years in the radiation oncology literature. Possible explanations include increasingly complex and collaborative research as well as honorary authorship. Explicit documentation of author contributions could help ensure that scientific work is credited according to accepted standards.
- OSTI ID:
- 22644999
- Journal Information:
- International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, Journal Name: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 93; ISSN IOBPD3; ISSN 0360-3016
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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