Business Deans Say Co-Authorships Are Often Undeserved

Eighty percent of the business deans who responded to a recent survey said that co-authors are sometimes “carried” by a colleague on a published journal article, and most felt that faculty rewards are sometimes based on an undeserved publication record.

A report on the survey, “College of Business Deans’ Views on Undeserved Co-Authorships in Business Journals,” is scheduled for discussion today in Washington at the American Association of University Professors’ international conference on globalization, shared governance, and academic freedom.

The report’s co-authors, Edgar J. Manton and Donald E. English, are both professors of business administration and management information systems at Texas A&M University at Commerce.

The authors sent surveys to the deans of all 445 business schools accredited by AACSB International: the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. They received 125 responses.

According to the study, more than 70 percent of journal articles in business have two or more co-authors, in part because the rapid expansion of knowledge in business disciplines makes such collaboration necessary.

Another, “more sinister” reason may be at play, the authors note: “This would be when an author grants another faculty member a co-authorship position on an article when he or she has done no work or very little work, thereby not deserving to be cited as a co-author.”

The motive might be to help another person get a promotion or achieve tenure, or it might involve a payback in which two scholars agree to share co-authorship on different papers, the authors say.

“Clearly unearned co-authorships are dishonest and unethical and may result in unfair faculty rewards,” the authors conclude. “Such unfair rewards would adversely affect faculty morale. Also reports on scholarly activities submitted to accreditation agencies may be overstated and present a false picture of faculty involvement in scholarly endeavors.” —Katherine Mangan