Steer clear of honorary authorship

Abstract

The last few months have been interesting, as I have discovered a new worry. Editors do spend many moments worrying. My concern has been the recent in- crease in authors seeking to add further names to papers once their work has been accepted. There have also been requests to change the order of authors after publication has been agreed. This rarely happens on sub- mission, but sufficient requests landed on my desk in only a few weeks to make me ask around. It appears we are not alone. Several of my editor colleagues in journals elsewhere in the world are experiencing a similar dilemma.