An author’s use of a pseudonym and false affiliation in 2018 resulted in the only retraction till date in IJME, stimulated much discussion, and sparked off this theme issue on authorship ethics. Complexity and controversies around authorship in scientific publishing have proliferated. The articles in this theme section address issues such as gift authorship, attribution bias, anonymity, and power imbalances in research institutions, while seeking accountability from authors, contributors, journal editors and institutions.
The controversial US Supreme Court decision to overturn the half-century-old Roe v Wade has snatched away women’s reproductive choices in the US. Our editorial in this issue covers the past, present and future of the abortion rights struggle in the country. The editorial was written before the Supreme Court decision was announced and hence, is based on the leaked draft of the judgment.
A research article delves into the nature of retracted literature in dentistry, while a review of an ethnographic work looks both at its content and its author’s alleged breach of research ethics. A letter discusses how the simultaneous pressure to publish and lack of recognition affect medical students, while a poet takes a satirical look at the barriers to publication in high-impact journals.
The unequal treatment of aggrieved patients and doctors under the National Medical Commission Act is critiqued by one group of authors, while another emphasises the urgent need to revise and unify multiple laws applicable to epidemic diseases to be ready for the next pandemic.
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Cover credit: Glass house in Lalbagh, Bengaluru, courtesy of Dr Sameer Rao