Shame on you Author X.

I have just reviewed a paper for a good epidemiology journal. The author list included 10 people from respectable institutions, one of whom (Author X) I immediately recognized as a Professor and “expert” in the topic of research. As I read the paper and outlined my objections, I repeatedly found myself surprised that Author X was involved. I know Author X knows better than that. I’m sure Author X wrote a paper on this. By the time I completed my review, I had a small handful of good things to say, and a long list of flaws, most of them obvious, some of them fatal.

So how should I judge Author X?

The apparent standard in academia is to simply accept that senior people will be on papers they had little to do with. In this situation however, I can’t accept that Author X even read this paper. The flaws were too glaring. Shouldn’t this person be embarrassed to submit this with their name on it, given they have read it?

Some of you might say, “Well, this is only a submission, not a published paper, so it doesn’t really count.”

To quickly address this point, I’ll just say that nobody should be submitting papers they don’t think are ready for publication. Too many people are using the review process to help write their papers.

Many others will simply exclaim, “Of course they didn’t read it” because this is the cultural norm in some fields. How else can one publish dozens of papers a year?

So who do we blame for these problems? More importantly, how do we fix them?

The answer to both questions lies in us – in academics of all levels, but particularly in reviewers and editors.

By not holding each other to a higher standard, we are allowing academic values to erode. If I fail to hold Author X responsible for the content of this paper because they are “senior”, or because this is just a first submission, then I am contributing to these problems in a very direct way. I am giving permission to Author X to act this way – I am encouraging behaviors that I strongly believe are counter-productive to science.

I’m done doing this. I’m done giving free passes. I understand that mistakes happen. People learn and improve.  Science is never as objective as we would like it to be. We aren’t always going to agree. I’m not expecting perfection  But at the end of the day, if your name is on a paper that I read or review, then I’m holding you accountable for it’s content. After all, that’s exactly what academic authorship is, isn’t it?