Academic literacies: Appraisal and social sanction about authorship and scientific integrity

Abstract

Research integrity has been under scrutiny, especially in regard to the legitimacy of academic authorship and co-authorship. We aim to bring a critical perspective to the debate, firstly by presenting how past and recent publications discuss (co-)authorship, and next by developing an appraisal analysis of discourse elements that make types of social sanction regarding the topic available. We conclude by pointing out certain criteria that validate (co-) authorship and kinds of evaluation produced in the reviewed literature. Our results indicate that (co-)authoship credit is affected by power relations and personal interest and that multiauthored publication is gaining significance in collaborative network research environments.