Levsky ME Rosin A , Coon TP , Enslow WL , Miller MA "A descriptive analysis of authorship within medical journals, 1995-2005 " SOUTHERN MEDICAL JOURNAL 100 (4): 371-375 APR 2007

[Eugene Garfield]

E-MAIL : Marc Levsky : marc.levsky at us.army.mil 

Title: A descriptive analysis of authorship within medical journals, 1995-
2005 

Author(s): Levsky ME (Levsky, Marc E.), Rosin A (Rosin, Alex), Coon TP 
(Coon, Troy P.), Enslow WL (Enslow, William L.), Miller MA (Miller, Michael 
A.) 

Source: SOUTHERN MEDICAL JOURNAL 100 (4): 371-375 APR 2007 

Document Type: Article 
Language: English 

Abstract: 
Introduction: The emphasis on publications for promotion in academic 
medicine would lead one to the theory that authorship numbers would 
increase proportionally with this emphasis. To investigate authorship 
trends across a number of periodicals, we performed a descriptive study 
comparing two full years of published articles spaced ten years apart from 
five medical journals. 
Methods: Physician reviewers each reviewed all articles of one medical 
journal for the 1995 and 2005 publication years. Reviewed journals included 
Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM), Annals of Emergency Medicine (AnnEM), 
Annals of Internal Medicine (AIM), Journal of Trauma (JT), and New England 
Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Data collected for each article were number of 
authors, ordinal number of the corresponding author, type of study 
described, whether the described study was a multicenter trial, whether 
authorship listed included a "study group," and whether any author was also 
an editor of the journal.
Results: A total of 2927 articles were published in the five journals in 
1995, and of these, 1401 (47.9%) were analyzed after the exclusion criteria 
had been applied; for 2005 a total of 3630 articles were published and of 
these, 1351 (37.2%) were included in the analysis. Across all five journals 
the mean number of authors per article increased from 4.66 to 5.73 between 
1995 and 2005 (P < 0.0001), and four of the five journals individually had 
statistically significant increases in the number of authors per article. 
More articles had a journal editor as an author in 2005 (increased from 
7.8% to 11.0%, P = 0.004), though no single journal had a statistically 
significant increase.
Conclusion: We describe a trend of increasing mean authors, editorial 
authorship, study groups, and multicenter trials over time with fewer solo 
authors now publishing original research or case reports. The academic 
medical community must pursue an authorship requirement consensus to assure 
that a standard of contribution for all authors on a given paper is met.

Addresses: Levsky ME (reprint author), CR Darnall Army Med Ctr, Dept 
Emergency Med, Ft Hood, TX 76544 USA
CR Darnall Army Med Ctr, Dept Emergency Med, Ft Hood, TX 76544 USA
Dwight D Eisenhower Army Med Ctr, Dept Emergency Med, Augusta, GA USA

E-mail Addresses: marc.levsky at us.army.mil 

Publisher: LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS, 530 WALNUT ST, PHILADELPHIA, PA 
19106-3621 USA 
Subject Category: Medicine, General & Internal 
IDS Number: 172AX 
ISSN: 0038-4348 


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