Publish Together or Perish. Increase in Number of Authors per Article in the Revista Argentina de Cardiología between 1934 and 2009

pp 148-151

Abstract

Background
Since several international journals have demonstrated increase in the mean number of authors per article, “publish or perish”, the guiding principle of academic life, has transformed into a new principle, “publish together or perish”.

Objective
To analyze the increasing trend in the number of articles, authors and number of authors per article published in the Rev Argent Cardiol from its creation to the present.

Material and Methods
We retrospectively reviewed the database of the articles published in the Rev Argent Cardiol from 1934 to 2009. The information about the number of articles, authors and authors per article was retrieved separated by each year; trends over time and variation rates were analyzed.

Results
The number of articles published between 1934 and 2009 had a variation rate of 1.23, corresponding to an average annual growth rate of 1%. The number of authors varied was 6.75 times and the average annual growth rate was 2.7%. The number of authors per article increased 2.48 times, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 1.6%. From 1958 to 2009, the average number of women per article increased 18 times, corresponding to an average annual growth rate of 5.8%.

Conclusions
We observed a significant increase in the absolute number of articles, authors and authors per article between 1934 and 2009. The average number of women per article increased during the last 50 years, from 1% to 5.8% per year. This trend towards the increasing average number of authors per article may be due to scientific collaboration, greater number of multicenter or multidisciplinary papers, or less strict criteria for authorship.