The White Bull effect: abusive coauthorship and publication parasitism

Kwok, Linchi

doi:10.1136/jme.2004.010553

Cited by 133 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…These stories tended to reinforce themes which emerged in the case studies regarding the role of hierarchy in determining claims to authorship. A number of respondents shared their disquiet at the prevalence of parasitical behaviour among senior researchers in powerful positions who exploit more junior colleagues or research students in a practice which has been labelled the white bull effect (Kwok 2005).…”

Section: Case 4: the Research Assistantmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By comparison, considerably less research and analysis have focused on more finegrained issues such as authorship order, one which academics regard as an especially important ethical issue (Macfarlane, 2009). The intertwining of power and positionality in decisions about authorship order has led to the identification of the so-called 'White Bull' effect (Kwok 2005) where senior researchers coercively assert a first authorship credit. This means that junior and less experienced academics and research students can either be excluded from a list of named authors or receive an authorship credit which reflects their organizational status rather than intellectual contribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The ethics of multiple authorship: power, performativity and the gift economy

Macfarlane

2015

Studies in Higher Education

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The allocation of authorship credit in academic publication raises complex ethical issues but is comparatively under-researched, particularly in the social sciences. The paper analyses the results of research into attitudes to multiple authorship based on a survey questionnaire of academics working in education faculties in universities in Hong Kong. The results illustrate the way in which intellectual contribution is often overridden by considerations related to hierarchical power relations, notably in relation to research project leadership and doctoral supervision. These considerations normalize a gift economy. Belief in the legitimacy of power ordering and gift ordering of academic contributions to multiple authored publications indicate the need for research universities to pay more regard to institutional policies on scholarly authorship.

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Section: Case 4: the Research Assistantmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ethics of multiple authorship: power, performativity and the gift economy

Macfarlane

2015

Studies in Higher Education

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“…The elements of the organizational climate were later shown to predict ethics decision making by doctoral students (Mumford et al 2007), as many young scientists have reported unethical pressures from their work-peers (Nilstun et al 2010;Hofmann et al 2013) and their superiors (Kwok 2005;Macfarlane 2017). More recently, Wells et al (2014) developed a new instrument for assessing the organizational research climate, which includes ethical leadership and framework for research integrity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Ethical Climate and Research Pressures in Different Faculties of a University: Cross-Sectional Study at the University of Split, Croatia

et al. 2017

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We determined the prevailing ethical climate at three different schools of a single university, in order to explore possible differences in the ethical climate related to different research fields: the School of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Naval Architecture; the School of Humanities and Social Sciences; and the School of Medicine. We used the Ethical Climate Questionnaire to survey the staff (teachers and administration) at the three schools, and used the research integrity and organizational climate (RIOC) survey for early-stage researchers at the three schools. The dominant ethical climate type perceived collectively at the three university schools (response rate 49%, n = 294) was Laws and professional codes, which is associated with the cosmopolitan level of analysis and the ethical construct of principle. Individually, the same climate predominated at the schools for engineering and humanities, but the School of Medicine had the Selfinterest ethical climate, which is associated with the individual level of analysis and the egoism ethical construct. In the RIOC survey (response rate 85%; n = 70), early-stage researchers from the three university schools did not differ in their perceptions of the organizational research integrity climate, or in their perceived individual, group or organizational pressures. Our study is the first, to the best of our knowledge, to show differences in perceived ethical climate at a medical school compared to other schools at a university. Further studies are needed to explore the reasons for these differences and how they translate to organizational outcomes, 123Sci Eng Ethics DOI 10.1007/s11948-017-9987-y such as job satisfaction, commitment to the institution and dysfunctional behaviour, including research misconduct.

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“…This fi nding becomes worrying in the view of the "white bull effect" (a reference to the myth of seduction of Europa by Zeus, disguised as a white bull), described by Kwok 14 as the self-imposition of a given individual as "honorary author" to a researcher in a weaker position. For instance, the negotiation of senior researchers with students under their guidance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Múltipla autoria: crescimento ou bolha inflacionária?

Camargo

Coeli

2012

Rev. Saúde Pública

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OBJECTIVE:To analyze the increase in number of authors per article in Brazilian scientifi c journals on public health. METHODS:Articles published between 1999 and 2010 in six journals on public health and one medical journal (for comparison) from SciELO with Qualis (Capes) classifi cation equal or superior to B-1, were searched on the LILACS database. The evolution of the median number of authors/article and the proportion of articles with more than four authors were evaluated. The association between the the triennium of publication and the presence of four or more authors per paper was estimated through the Mantel-Haenzel odds ratio, adjusted for the type of journal. RESULTS:An increase of the median number of authors and the proportion of articles with more than four authors was observed in all journals, especially in the last triennium. The odds ratio for articles with four or more authors, adjusted for the type of journal, were: second triennium 1.3 (95%CI 1.1;1.4); third triennium 1.5 (95%CI 1.3;1.8), fourth triennium 2.39 (95%CI 2.1;2.8).

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The White Bull effect: abusive coauthorship and publication parasitism

Cited by 133 publications

References 31 publications

The ethics of multiple authorship: power, performativity and the gift economy

The ethics of multiple authorship: power, performativity and the gift economy

Perceptions of Ethical Climate and Research Pressures in Different Faculties of a University: Cross-Sectional Study at the University of Split, Croatia

Múltipla autoria: crescimento ou bolha inflacionária?

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