Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29170291›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2017

Authorship, plagiarism and conflict of interest: views and practices from low/middle-income country health researchers.

Anke Rohwer, Taryn Young, Elizabeth Wager, Paul Garner

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Coercion Authorship: Ubiquitous and Preventable.Journal of Korean medical science · 2024
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. The missing voices in global health storytelling.PLOS global public health · 2024
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Institutional Approaches to Research Integrity in Ghana.Science and engineering ethics · 2020
    Review
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Principles of research ethics: A research primer for low- and middle-income countries.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2020
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Anke RohwerCentre for Evidence-based Health Care, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1092-5942
Taryn YoungCentre for Evidence-based Health Care, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
Elizabeth WagerSideview, Princes Risborough, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4202-7813
Paul GarnerDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Centre for Evidence Synthesis in Global Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo document low/middle-income country (LMIC) health researchers' views about authorship, redundant publication, plagiarism and conflicts of interest and how common poor practice was in their institutions.

designWe developed a questionnaire based on scenarios about authorship, redundant publication, plagiarism and conflicts of interest. We asked participants whether the described practices were acceptable and whether these behaviours were common at their institutions. We conducted in-depth interviews with respondents who agreed to be interviewed.

participantsWe invited 607 corresponding authors of Cochrane reviews working in LMICs. From the 583 emails delivered, we obtained 199 responses (34%). We carried out in-depth interviews with 15 respondents.

resultsSeventy-seven per cent reported that guest authorship occurred at their institution, 60% reported text recycling. For plagiarism, 12% of respondents reported that this occurred 'occasionally', and 24% 'rarely'. Forty per cent indicated that their colleagues had not declared conflicts of interest in the past. Respondents generally recognised poor practice in scenarios but reported that they occurred at their institutions. Themes identified from in-depth interviews were (1) authorship rules are simple in theory, but not consistently applied; (2) academic status and power underpin behaviours; (3) institutions and culture fuel bad practices and (4) researchers are uncertain about what conflict of interests means and how this may influence research.

conclusionsLMIC researchers report that guest authorship is widely accepted and common. While respondents report that plagiarism and undeclared conflicts of interest are unacceptable in practice, they appear common. Determinants of poor practice relate to academic status and power, fuelled by institutional norms and culture.

Indexed as

Conflict of InterestPlagiarismAdultAuthorshipBiomedical ResearchDeveloping CountriesEthics, ResearchFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedScientific Misconductauthorshipconflict of interestinterviewsplagiarismresearch integritysurvey

Identifiers

PMID29170291
PMCPMC5719292

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.