Recently I visited (R) (a platform that lists top scientists around the world from the areas of computer science and electronics) and later I also visited (A) (the ATLAS Experiment at CERN). I made the following observations (I intentionally don't mention names):
1. One of the top authors at R has published 1,816 papers.
If one's professional career lasts 40 years, the calculation says:
40 years X 365 days = 14600 days; 14600 / 1816 = 8 days to publish a paper
That means 1 paper is published every 8 days during the entire professional life! That's about 45 papers a year... every year!
2. The same author at R has an h-index of 167.
"The h-index is defined as the maximum value of h such that the given author/journal has published at least h papers that have each been cited at least h times."
The R's top author has 167 papers each one cited 167 times!
3. A paper published by A's researchers had 78 authors!
I realize that CERN is something "big" and quite complex. But... there are 78 authors anyway...
Probably all those people are high-level scientists. But... what makes them hyperprolific? Is it real? How is it possible? Is it more for the benefit of science or is it a kind of business?
What's your opinion?
Concerning publications at CERN: 78 authors are not that many. In high-energy physics, there are even papers with several thousand authors, because so many specialists are needed for some experiments. Also in some fields of astronomy and perhaps in some more sciences ("big science") is has become quiet normal that a publication has dozens to hundreds to thousands authors. See also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_do_you_think_about_multiple_author_papers
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What-do-you-think-about-articles-where-the-list-of-coauthors-is-bigger-than-the-article-itself
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Group_Authorship_is_there_a_minmum_and_maximum
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_there_a_limit_to_the_number_of_authors_on_any_scientific_publication_regardless_of_disciplineWhat_is_the_number_of_restrictions_if_there_are_any
https://www.researchgate.net/post/How-many-maximum-number-of-authors-are-enough-in-a-research-paper
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Mesmerizing_list_of_authors_5_154_in_one_article_research_break_through_is_a_group_activity_but_do_we_need_to_include_whole_community
I give a point of view as someone who has been on a paper with a lot of authors...
I totally agree with your point, Yassen V. Gorbounov . I have observed many people who just want to get more papers under their name, because that just improves their h-index and number of citations etc. What I mean is that those people are just trying to get bigger numbers for themselves for individual glory. More often, their survival (actually, "status" is probably a better word) at their institution depends on it.
Having said that, I, myself, am listed as an author on a paper with about 1100-1200 authors - that's my record! My contribution was not honestly that large but there are some on that group who might have even less. I guess I feel less guilty because I do not have 1000 papers - or even 100. And I will probably never even get close to such a number in my life!
Should I have actively said that I do not wish to be an author on that paper? I think it was a good piece of work and I think there are many good scientific points. Another reason, as I say, was because I knew there were people who might have contributed even less. I do not list it in my CV, though.
The problem are the stakeholders, science organisers etc. who have the illusion that a single number (number of publications or number of citations or h index etc.) is able to express quality, creativity and productivity, whereas the picture is much more complex. This leads not only to a flood of publications, but also to several kinds of scientific misconduct by people who do follow the ethics of research. See also my reply to the following discussion: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_do_you_think_about_scientific_production_evaluation_indices_such_as_those_of_Hirsch_h_or_Google_Scholar_i10_or_others#view=61f5724da534fa35422be10f
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