PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Aziz Sheikh
TI  - Publication ethics and the research assessment exercise: reflections on the troubled question of authorship
AID  - 10.1136/jme.26.6.422
DP  - 2000 Dec 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 422--426
VI  - 26
IP  - 6
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/26/6/422.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/26/6/422.full
SO  - J Med Ethics2000 Dec 01; 26
AB  - The research assessment exercise (RAE) forms the basis for determining the funding of higher education institutions in the UK. Monies are distributed according to a range of performance criteria, the most important of which is “research outputs”. Problems to do with publication misconduct, and in particular, issues of justice in attributing authorship, are endemic within the research community. It is here argued that the research assessment exercise currently makes no explicit attempt to address these concerns, and indeed, by focusing attention on research outputs, may actually be fostering such ethical problems.