Honorary authorship is not only forced. There may be also the hope that a paper will gain more attention with a well-known name among the authors. See also this discussion for yet another reason: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Adding_scientists_to_a_paper_because_the_added_author_will_pay_APC_charges. See also my reply about ombudspersons to prevent forced authorship in https://www.researchgate.net/post/Address_the_ethics_in_authorship_claims_of_research_publications. Here are two more discussions on authorship in general:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Opinions_on_coauthoring

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_Choose_a_Co-author_for_your_scientific_article

Dear Rahim Alijani

Arbitration or mediation may be able to give answers to authorship issues when there are currently few. Journals are ideally positioned to allow alternative dispute resolution methods since authors respect journals' ability to make judgments on papers submitted to the journal.

When intellectual contributions to a scientific inquiry do not follow the four fundamental standards of scholarship, authorship, approval, and agreement, as well as the processes for assuring appropriate publishing ethics, the situation may be jeopardized.

Best Regards

Dr. Fatemeh Khozaei

Wolfgang R. Dick what you talked about is rather guest or gift authorship. you might like to see this article 10.1007/s00296-012-2582-2. Also needs to add that this is not a question. This is a discussion. My aim is not to attract answers and scores. this kind of authorship among others is harmful, as far as I have worked on them, even worse. the matter is not that I or another researcher think about a collaborator. In most cases the subordinates try to do what ever they have in hand to satisfy the stablished researchers. it means the stablished ones move up the rank, and again others come about to collaborate. The result, some so called researchers make possible, the impossible. hundreds of collaborators just available to one. the one who has several hundred thousand citations. the outcome? just the huge number of publications and citations. who knows the contents of those publications? I think nobody. All engaged in, did it for the "Publish or Perish" phenomenon. the message is clear, most of us want publications and citations, not deep thinking, anyway thank you

I agree with you that honorary authorship should not be considered within the realm of academic research because it merely recognizes individuals based on their contributions in other life aspects.

Bendaoud Nadif I hope, one day, the world of academia, become able to find a solution for this world class problem in higher education. There are indeed other ways, to avoid to be a part of honorary, guest, gift... authorship system, but yet to be successful.

Honorary authorship usually involves the inclusion of people who are hierarchically superior to the author (s) such as their supervisor, team leader, department head or institutional director. Their names may be included in recognition of their contribution to the topic investigated, the provision of funds for research, the granting of laboratory space or equipment. Although these contributions may be acknowledged, they by themselves do not constitute criteria of authorship. On the other hand, these names may have been included out of the authors' fear of retaliation if they were left off the list of authors, to please those in power, or in the belief that the addition of prestigious names may lead to acceptance of the manuscript for publication. These are all clearly unethical actions. It has been observed that the greater the number of authors in an article, the greater the probability that it contains honorary authors: it goes from 2% when there are a maximum of three authors to 29% when the article is signed by at least six. In the most prestigious journals of general medicine, it is estimated that the prevalence of honorary and phantom authorship is 18% and 8%, respectively. About one in five published articles feature honorary and / or ghost authors. To combat honorary authorship, many journals require that it be specified what was the contribution to the study and the article of each of the people who appear as authors. In the fight against phantom authorship, there is a broad consensus that it is necessary to inform in the article (in the “Acknowledgments” section) whether a professional writer was involved and who bore this cost. It has been proposed that the best way to avoid these irregularities is to treat honorary and phantom authorship as scientific malpractice (that is, as fraud), and treat it as such. Editors of medical journals must take the necessary steps to assure their readers that the content of their publications is based on true data, that they are original and that they comply with the ethical rules of clinical and biomedical research, including the notification of non-acts. ethical.

Debrayan Bravo Hidalgo Thank you for taking part in this discussion. To me it comes that you are aware of this big problem, and how it has been damaging our higher education system all over the globe. The result of this is what I can call "betrayers" of our world. Betrayers of our past, now and future. . They only think of themselves, to show off, move up the ranks in sciences. No one is immune from them, while they themselves are. We need to be more active to inform others.

• As you used stats in your reply, it would be nice, if you share the source(s) with us.

I have seen this from multiple viewpoints...

When I was quite junior, I felt there was injustice because a more senior person demanded to be an author and it didn't feel quite right because he others had all worked very hard (outside of our usual jobs).

Now I am much more senior and encourage juniors not to be pressured like this but it still happens a lot, unfortunately, because their supervisors want to have their name for more publications etc

Joseph C Lee You are right. more than 20 years ago that I started to write something publishable, I was told, the road to success is to add the names of those stablished researchers, unfortunately, in the course of time, even the persons of power, appeared... Years later I understood, all forms were totally wrong. All those forms of ill authorship (gift, guest, ghost & honorary, that I call them 3G+H) clearly kill creativity. I think we need to be more active to inform young minds, about these ill phenomena in the world of academia. And as you mentioned "it still happens a lot" lets add "all over the world"

After some 10 years after publication of this editorial "Ending Honorary Authorship" in SCIENCE (31 Aug 2012 , V, 337, (6098)), now we are witnessing new forms of frauds in the world of academia, please have a look at this

Article Posthumous co-authorship revisited

I think as some, all over the world, don't give up the "publish or perish" race. we will face new and new forms of frauds in sciences, impacting all.

Hello All

This sketch that I myself made it, is; "in a model, understanding, shape and shade" that we quickly memorize and remember it. More than one year ago I published online its Persian form and now in English. Its message is according to English Language writing system. Starting with Honorary author and finishing with Publish in I Edit. In this model (that later I will explain and open it) many problems of misconducts and frauds in academic researches and scientific publishing start in the forms of Honorary (forced) Authorship and finish with Publish in I Edit.

Maybe by frank discussions, and spread of this idea, "if found worth" we help each other and young minds to be wise and smart enough to avoid them. While worth saying that other newer forms of scientific misconducts have emerged that need to be addressed. If the previous misconducts were more in the realm of Bibliometrics and Scientometrics, the newer ones are in the realm of Altmetrics...

Thank You

All this ethics is possible when you do not consider publications to justify promotions or as arguments to get even more finances for research...

Marcel M. Lambrechts That is why, I voluntarily terminated my permanent career and try to spread awareness about these problems. While there are other self-made models, are en route. If all your target is me!

Some times we encounter short-sighted persons just take part in specific discussions, knowing almost nothing about, but adding 1 or 2 pell-mell sentences. It seems that they don't even know the meaning of the term "Discussion". These are "digit lovers" as I call them, they are looking for more reads, more recommendations, more followers, and Scores. It seems they have found a very easy way to justify promotions for or as arguments to get even more finances for research...

These are the ones when you go through their answers in different discussions, soon realize what their personalities are and what they are looking for. Personal Gains... While such a person burying his head in the sand and thinking everything is OK, sooner or later, he will be added and found in databases of sites such as "Retraction Watch", or books such as "Betrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of Science" or "The Great Betrayal: Fraud in Science".

While "Scientific Hall of Shame" used to be reserved for those traditional misconducts, and frauds, we can expect new forms of misconducts be added to that Hall, These are the ones that occur in Scientific Social Media and in the realm of Altmetrics.