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Do Corresponding Authors Take Responsibility for Their Work? A Covert Survey

  • Clinical Research
  • Published:
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®

A CORR Insights to this article was published on 03 September 2014

Abstract

Background

Publication of a manuscript does not end an author’s responsibilities. Reasons to contact an author after publication include clarification, access to raw data, and collaboration. However, legitimate questions have been raised regarding whether these responsibilities generally are being met by corresponding authors of biomedical publications.

Questions/purposes

This study aims to establish (1) what proportion of corresponding authors accept the responsibility of correspondence; (2) identify characteristics of responders; and (3) assess email address decay with time. We hypothesize that the response rate is unrelated to journal impact factor.

Methods

We contacted 450 corresponding authors throughout various fields of biomedical research regarding the availability of additional data from their study, under the pretense of needing these data for a related review article. Authors were randomly selected from 45 journals whose impact factors ranged from 52 to 0; the source articles were published between May 2003 and May 2013. The proportion of corresponding authors who replied, along with author characteristics were recorded, as was the proportion of emails that were returned for inactive addresses; 446 authors were available for final analysis.

Results

Fifty-three percent (190/357) of the authors with working email addresses responded to our request. Clinical researchers were more likely to reply than basic/translational scientists (51% [114/225] versus 34% [76/221]; p < 0.001). Impact factor and other author characteristics did not differ. Logistic regression analysis showed that the odds of replying decreased by 15% per year (odds ratio [OR], 0.85; 95% CI, 0.79–0.91; p < 0.001), and showed a positive relationship between clinical research and response (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.3–2.9; p = 0.001). In 2013 all email addresses (45/45) were reachable, but within 10 years, 49% (21/43) had become invalid.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that contacting corresponding authors is problematic throughout the field of biomedical research. Defining the responsibilities of corresponding authors by journals more explicitly—particularly after publication of their manuscript—may increase the response rate on data requests. Possible other ways to improve communication after research publication are: (1) listing more than one email address per corresponding author, eg, an institutional and personal address; (2) specifying all authors’ email addresses; (3) when an author leaves an institution, send an automated reply offering alternative ways to get in touch; and (4) linking published manuscripts to research platforms.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jos de Bruin, Drs and David Ring MD, PhD (Orthopaedic Hand and Upper Extremity Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA) for their thorough reading and helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Musculoskeletal Oncology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Room 3.946, Yawkey Building, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Teun Teunis MD & Sjoerd P. F. T. Nota MD

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Musculoskeletal Oncology Service, Spine Surgery Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Joseph H. Schwab MD, MS

Authors
  1. Teun Teunis MD
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  2. Sjoerd P. F. T. Nota MD
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  3. Joseph H. Schwab MD, MS
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Teun Teunis MD.

Additional information

One of the authors (TT) received research grants from the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund & Kuitse Fung (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) (less than USD 10,000), and Fundatie van de Vrijvrouwe van Renswoude te’s-Gravenhage (The Hague, The Netherlands) (less than USD 10,000).

One of the authors (JS) certifies that he, or a member of his immediate family, has or may receive payments or benefits, during the study period from Stryker (Kalamazoo, MI, USA) (less than USD 10,000), and Biom’up (Saint-Priest, France) (less than USD 10,000).

All ICMJE Conflict of Interest Forms for authors and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research ® editors and board members are on file with the publication and can be viewed on request.

Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research ® neither advocates nor endorses the use of any treatment, drug, or device. Readers are encouraged to always seek additional information, including FDA-approval status, of any drug or device prior to clinical use.

Each author certifies that his or her institution waived approval for the human protocol for this investigation and that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research.

Appendices

Appendix 1. Selected journals

Ranking

Journal

Impact factor

General focus*

1

New England Journal of Medicine

52

Clinical research

2

Lancet

39

Clinical research

3

Journal of the American Medical Association

30

Clinical research

4

Lancet Oncology

25

Clinical research

5

Cancer Cell

25

Basic science

6

Journal of Clinical Oncology

18

Clinical research

7

British Medical Journal

17

Clinical research

8

Molecular Cell

15

Basic science

9

Molecular Psychiatry

15

Basic science

10

Genome Research

14

Basic science

11

Journal of the National Cancer Institute

14

Clinical research

12

Acta Crystallographica Section D

14

Basic science

13

Annals of Internal Medicine

14

Internal/general medicine

14

Developmental Cell

13

Basic science

15

Genes & Development

12

Basic science

16

Journal of Cell Biology

11

Basic science

17

Cell Research

11

Basic science

18

Molecular Biology and Evolution

10

Basic science

19

Leukemia

10

Basic science

20

Cancer Research

8.7

Basic science

21

Cell Death & Differentiation

8.4

Basic science

22

Nucleic Acids Research

8.3

Basic science

23

Clinical Cancer Research

7.8

Clinical research

24

Stem Cells

7.7

Basic science

25

Annals of Oncology

7.4

Clinical research

26

Canadian Medical Association Journal

6.5

Clinical research

27

Journal of Internal Medicine

6.5

Internal/general medicine

28

Annals of Surgery

6.3

Surgery

29

American Journal of Transplantation

6.2

Clinical research

30

Journal of Neuro-Oncology

6.2

Clinical research

31

Cell Cycle

5.2

Basic science

32

Annals of Medicine

5.1

Internal/general medicine

33

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry

4.9

Surgery

34

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

3.9

Internal/general medicine

35

Liver Transplantation

3.9

Surgery

36

Journal of Molecular Biology

3.9

Basic science

37

Shock Journal

2.6

Surgery

38

Journal of Pain and Symptom Management

2.6

Internal/general medicine

39

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

2.6

Basic science

40

Journal of Investigative Surgery

1.3

Surgery

41

Biological Trace Element Research

1.3

Basic science

42

Yonsei Medical Journal

1.3

Surgery

43

Preparative Biochemistry & Biotechnology

0.41

Basic science

44

International Surgery

0.31

Surgery

45

Scottish Medical Journal

0.29

Internal/general medicine

  1. * As indicated by the ISI web of knowledge.

Appendix 2. Sent email request

Dear Dr [author’s initials and last name]:

With great interest we read your article: [manuscript title]. We would like to include your article in our systematic review; however, we need some additional data not mentioned in your manuscript. Please let us know if you would be so kind to provide us with this data.

Kind regards,

T. Teunis MD

Research Fellow

Massachusetts General Hospital

Harvard Medical School

phone: (+1) 617-724-9563

email: tteunis@partners.org

fax: (+1) 617-643-1274

Appendix 3. Explanatory email

Dear Dr [author’s initials and last name]:

Thank you for your response. We want to inform you that our previous email was intentionally misleading: we are conducting a survey on the response rate of corresponding authors. To minimize bias, we were not able to tell you this in our previous correspondence. Your paper was randomly selected. Our intent is to see how many corresponding authors actually accept the role of “corresponding author” and are willing to share data on email request. We are not actually asking for any additional data. All results are handled confidentially and are from this point on anonymized. Your name will not be linked to any response provided. If you wish to have a copy of our study results/report, let us know by email and we will send you a copy electronically. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We apologize for any distress or inconvenience, and thank you for your response.

Sincerely,

Teun Teunis MD

Research fellow

&

Joseph H. Schwab MD, MA

Principal Investigator, Chief of Spine Surgery

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Massachusetts General Hospital

Harvard Medical School

Address: Room 3.946, Yawkey Building

Massachusetts General Hospital

55 Fruit Street

Boston, MA 02114, USA

phone: 617-724-9563

email1: tteunis@mgh.harvard.edu

email2: jhschwab@mgh.harvard.edu

fax: 617-643-1274

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Teunis, T., Nota, S.P.F.T. & Schwab, J.H. Do Corresponding Authors Take Responsibility for Their Work? A Covert Survey. Clin Orthop Relat Res 473, 729–735 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-014-3868-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-014-3868-3

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