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Does the multi-authorship trend influence the quality of an article?

Author

Listed:
  • Satya Ranjan Sahu

    (CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography)

  • Krushna Chandra Panda

    (Sambalpur University)

Abstract

In the last few decades, multi-authored articles have increased in different disciplines with increasing instances of authorship abuse although multi-authorship is not always due to undeserving authorship (McDonald et al. in Mayo Clin Proc 85(10):920–927, 2010). It may be necessitated by interdisciplinary research, the evolution of a discipline, or the intention of quality improvement. This article studies the relationship between the authorship and the quality of articles (publications in better impact factor journals or core journals) in the field of Oceanography. The result shows ~75 % increase in the number of authors per article from 1990 to 2009 in the discipline. The increase in authorship correlates not only with the percentage of articles in core journals but also with the mean impact factor (IF) of journals (where the articles were published). The ANOVA study shows that though multi-authorship has no influence on the preference to publish in core journals during the 1990s or 2000s, it does have a significant influence on the preference to publish in high IF journals in both the decades. So these findings establish that in the field of Oceanography, the increase in collaboration would have resulted in more publications in core journals (without any influence of authorship increase) and in better impact factor journals (due to the influence of authorship increase).

Suggested Citation

  • Satya Ranjan Sahu & Krushna Chandra Panda, 2014. "Does the multi-authorship trend influence the quality of an article?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 2161-2168, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:98:y:2014:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-013-1127-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-013-1127-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Satya Ranjan Sahu & Krushna Chandra Panda, 2012. "A deductive approach to select or rank journals in multifaceted subject, Oceanography," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(3), pages 609-619, September.
    2. Jeremy P. Birnholtz, 2006. "What does it mean to be an author? The intersection of credit, contribution, and collaboration in science," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 57(13), pages 1758-1770, November.
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    2. José Alberto Molina & David Iñiguez & Gonzalo Ruiz & Alfonso Tarancón, 2018. "The Nobel Prize in Economics: individual or collective merits?," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 966, Boston College Department of Economics.
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    4. Young-Hwan Lee, 2021. "Determinants of research productivity in Korean Universities: the role of research funding," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(5), pages 1462-1486, October.

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