Foo, JYA. 2011. A Retrospective Analysis of 10-Year Authorship Trends in Biomedical Engineering Journals. ACCOUNTABILITY IN RESEARCH-POLICIES AND QUALITY ASSURANCE 18 (2): 91-101

[Eugene Garfield]

Foo, JYA. 2011. A Retrospective Analysis of 10-Year Authorship Trends in 
Biomedical Engineering Journals. ACCOUNTABILITY IN RESEARCH-POLICIES AND 
QUALITY ASSURANCE 18 (2): 91-101.

Author Full Name(s): Foo, Jong Yong Abdiel
Language: English
Document Type: Article

Author Keywords: authorship; journal impact factor; publication ethics; 
research integrity; research misconduct
KeyWords Plus: SCIENTIFIC PAPERS; IMPACT FACTOR

Abstract: Studies have indicated that academic research has become 
increasingly complex and multidisciplinary. There seems to be an increasing 
trend of multiple author articles published across most journals. As the field of 
biomedical engineering also encompasses multidisciplinary-based knowledge, it 
is interesting to understand the authorship trend over time. In this study, six 
journals were carefully chosen from the Journal Citation Report of the Thomson 
Scientific based on predefined criteria (year 1999 to 2008). The data pertaining 
to authorships for the articles published in these journals were then acquired 
from the PubMed database. The results show that there is a general upward 
trend for the number of author per article, but it is not significant (p .01) 
despite a 64.5% increase in the total number of article published in the six 
chosen journals. Thus, the expected increase is not observed in this field, and 
it may be due to the stringent guidelines by journals in defining the 
contributions of an author. Particularly, contributing factors like the impact of 
authorship irregularities is discussed herein.

Addresses: Ngee Ann Polytech, Sch Engn, Div Elect & Comp Engn, Singapore 
599489, Singapore
Reprint Address: Foo, JYA, Ngee Ann Polytech, Sch Engn, Div Elect & Comp 
Engn, 535 Clementi Rd, Singapore 599489, Singapore.

E-mail Address: abdielfoo at hotmail.com
ISSN: 0898-9621
DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2011.557299
URL (not open access): 
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tandf/gacr/2011/00000018/00000002
/art00003