We are accustomed to the fact that most papers have more than 4 authors. Then single authored papers would appear out of place. The question would be is it difficult to produce a paper's worth of data single-handedly? The common answer is yes. So my next question would be as a single author are we giving credit where credit is due?
There can be a single author to more than 5000.
https://www.nature.com/news/physics-paper-sets-record-with-more-than-5-000-authors-1.17567
I have many papers authored by me only. I have acknowledged each and everyone from whom I have received help.
I was going to say, as Subir implies, you seem to be universalising from your own experience. Tut, tut....
Single authorship is the norm in the humanities and social sciences. Everything I've done is single authorship except one joint article. You simply reference it properly, and thank anyone who gave special input: pre publication readers, referees, discussants, conference input, that sort of thing.
Christopher NOCK
This brings up the topic of ethical conduct in authorship. Medical and health sciences are probably known for their multi disciplinary approach and practices in authorship and publishing than the humanities and social sciences. I would agree with you @Christopher Nock that not every publication or research contribution deserves authorship. What comes to mind is the credit that is given to ghost/ political authors with little contribution, if any, to the research work.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21312000/?i=6&from=/28589537/related
http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2002/03/authorship-biomedical-research-realities-and-expectations
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28589537/
Well, nothing is impossible. I think due to the nature in which medical and health science researches are conducted, single authorship may be a difficult to achieve except in review articles or if the researcher decide not to include people that might have supported the work or if abinitio he agrees on paying those that assisted in the research.
Because when you look at it, you have many areas requiring the expertise of someone in that field and definately if those you are working with are researchers which is usually the case then you cannot author the work alone. Samples may be collected, analyse, interpreted and other stuff which definately you may not be able to do alone.
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