Authorship inflation in general practice research: unanswered questions to address?

David Kernick

doi:10.3399/bjgp26X744297

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Authorship inflation in general practice research: unanswered questions to address?
Christopher E Clark

Published on: 16 March 2026

Published on: (16 March 2026)
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Authorship inflation in general practice research: unanswered questions to address?
Christopher E Clark, Clinical Associate Professor of Primary Care Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Exeter Medical School
David Kernick asks whether we needed 15 contributors to conduct our nationwide survey regarding postural hypotension. Clearly, a 15 person team working solely on this project would represent profligate overstaffing, but that is not really the question. If he wonders whether 15 people made a contribution to this project then the answer is a clear yes. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors have defined authorship, to ensure that genuine academic and intellectual contributions are properly recognised.¹ Authors have to justify and explain contributions during journal submission, using CRediT author statements. Authorship represents achievement, it is not a gift - it recognises contribution.

Authorship is essential to chart progress and development for early and mid-career researchers, it establishes a track record of successful funding and delivery. These are vital for promotion and further funding applications. A permanent academic contract is the privilege of the few; most researchers are constantly maintaining their CVs in support of their next funding application, to maintain their employment. Acknowledgement through authorship is central to this process.

Research is a collaborative, multidisciplinary process.² Diversification of roles, technological developments, methodological advances and oversight with statistical and subject-specific expertise are all reasons why single-author papers are in decline and mean author...
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David Kernick asks whether we needed 15 contributors to conduct our nationwide survey regarding postural hypotension. Clearly, a 15 person team working solely on this project would represent profligate overstaffing, but that is not really the question. If he wonders whether 15 people made a contribution to this project then the answer is a clear yes. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors have defined authorship, to ensure that genuine academic and intellectual contributions are properly recognised.¹ Authors have to justify and explain contributions during journal submission, using CRediT author statements. Authorship represents achievement, it is not a gift - it recognises contribution.

Authorship is essential to chart progress and development for early and mid-career researchers, it establishes a track record of successful funding and delivery. These are vital for promotion and further funding applications. A permanent academic contract is the privilege of the few; most researchers are constantly maintaining their CVs in support of their next funding application, to maintain their employment. Acknowledgement through authorship is central to this process.

Research is a collaborative, multidisciplinary process.² Diversification of roles, technological developments, methodological advances and oversight with statistical and subject-specific expertise are all reasons why single-author papers are in decline and mean author numbers have risen across all disciplines over the last 20 years.³ Researchers may be contributing to several studies at any one time; another reflection of the challenging funding environment. Many papers, such as ours, report one workstream from a larger funded project. Whilst led by a core of team members, their paper would be supported, revised and edited by the full research team. This is a valid role for authorship.

Incidentally, citations also matter to academics, so we thank David for referring to our paper.

References

1. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommednations. 2026. www.icmje.org/recommendations/ (accessed 16/3/26),
2. Research. Clark CE. in Rural Healthcare (2nd ed). Boca Raton: CRC Press 2023:230-46. DOI: 10.1201/9781003302438-22
3. Jakab, M., Kittl, E. & Kiesslich, T. How many authors are (too) many? A retrospective, descriptive analysis of authorship in biomedical publications. Scientometrics 2024; 129, 1299–1328. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-024-04928-1.
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Competing Interests: I am the senior author of Understanding measurement of postural hypotension: a nationwide survey of general practice in England Sinéad TJ McDonagh, Rosina Cross, Jane Masoli, Judit Konya, Gary Abel, James P Sheppard, Bethany Jakubowski, Cini Bhanu, Jayne Fordham, Katrina Turner, Sarah E Lamb, Rupert A Payne, Richard J McManus, John L Campbell, Christopher E Clark. British Journal of General Practice 2026; 76 (762): e68-e76. DOI: 10.3399/BJGP.2025.0025.