{"id":20426,"date":"2018-12-12T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T04:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=20426"},"modified":"2019-02-06T07:29:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T01:29:14","slug":"are-ghost-authors-affecting-the-authenticity-of-clinical-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/are-ghost-authors-affecting-the-authenticity-of-clinical-trials\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Ghost Authors Affecting the Authenticity of Clinical Trials?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ghost authors \u2014 individuals that make a large contribution to a research article but are not listed as an author \u2014 appear to be common in large clinical trials. These clinical trials are instrumental in testing medical treatments before their approval by the regulating authority. Therefore, they need to be accurate, reproducible and above all transparent.<\/p>\n

Researchers publish their work as a team-effort. The first author does most of the research work, followed by colleagues who worked on the project in descending order of contribution. The last author is usually the supervisor of the research project. Journals have guidelines for authorship to ensure everyone listed<\/a> as an author is due their credit. On the other hand, authors of papers take responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the published data.<\/p>\n

Clinical Trial Validity<\/h2>\n

Having all the authors listed in an article<\/a> is important, especially amidst the current reproducibility crisis. Alarmingly, a study found that many cases of published clinical treatments were either:<\/p>\n