PhD students feel forced into co-authorship, Danish study shows

Half of those affected said a person in power told them to share publication credits

One in three PhD students in Denmark has had to grant guest authorship to a more powerful researcher who did not contribute significantly to the publication, according to a study in Plos One.

The survey, led by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, found that around half of the PhD students covered by the study had been told to do so directly by the person benefiting from co-authorship—usually someone in a senior position. The practice was found to be most common within the medical and natural sciences.