Trends in authorship in the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, 1981–2020.

Background: The increase in authors per scientific article in many different medical and scientific disciplines has raised concerns over ethical authorship. Trends in authorship in dermatopathology are unknown. Methods: Cross‐sectional study of a random sample of 200 articles from the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology (1981–2020). Results: The number of authors per article increased by an estimated 96% between 1981 and 2020 (2.7–5.3), while the relative citation ratio decreased by an estimated 56% during the same period (1.19–0.52). Higher author counts were not associated with higher relative citation ratios (p = 0.2349) or analytic study designs (p = 0.2987). Higher relative citation ratios were associated with analytic study designs (p = 0.0374). Conclusions: There has been significant growth in authorship credit at the journal without a corresponding increase in research impact or study rigor. Remedial measures to stem authorship inflation and promote more impactful studies may be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]