From BMJ:

A case described 5 surgeons who were working in a hospital and using a similar technique to operate on their patients. Surgeon B left the academy after a while to work in the private sector. Surgeon A decided to write a manuscript about their experiences and was the first author. Surgeons C, D, and E were named in the byline of the manuscript, but surgeon B was excluded. The question is whether surgeon B can claim to be an author of the article as well.

Using the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guideline without considering the ethical aspects of people’s contributions may lead to this guideline being abused, which is worse than not having any guideline at all.

References:

Behrooz Astaneh: Authorship criteria – use or abuse

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