PATTERNS OF AUTHORSHIP AMONG CHAIRMEN OF DEPARTMENTS OF MEDICINE

Background. This study examines changes in the authorship patterns of chairmen of medicine departments from 1979 through 1990, a time when c riteria for authorship were widely debated among medical journal edito rs. Chairmen were selected to be studied because, due to their leaders hip position and stature, they are likely to ''set the example'' for m any scholars in the academic medicine community. Method. Computerized literature searches were conducted for all 233 persons who were chairm en during at least one year of the 12-year study period (1979-1990) to determine the average number of publications per chairman per year, t he average number of coauthors per article published, the location of the chairman on the published list of authors, and other pertinent dat a required for a thorough analysis of authorship practices. Statistica l methods included repeated-measures analysis, sensitivity analyses, a nd the use of linear models to analyze trends over time. Results. Amon g all the chairmen, there was no statistically significant decrease in the average number of articles per year for which the chairmen were l ast authors, and there was a significant increase in the average numbe r of coauthors per year on published articles. However, factors such a s length of chairmanship, frequency of publication, and academic posit ion (i.e., chair, pre-chair, or post-chair) were found to influence pa tterns of authorship; for example, the 61 individuals who were chairme n for ten years or more had a significant decrease in the number of la st-author articles, whereas the 172 individuals who were chairmen for fewer than ten years had a significant increase. Conclusion. Changes i n the definition of authorship by medical journal editors did not seem to be important influences on the authorship patterns of the chairmen , since the chairmen did not significantly decrease the number of arti cles for which they were the last authors, and they significantly incr eased the number of coauthors of their articles.