Lead author has added another author without discussing with me

Question

I have been collaborating with another person on a paper which is almost complete.

Today I checked emails and they asked if I could share the Overleaf with someone to check calculations. I did that assuming that they were doing this so that the person could help out and check some elementary but long calculations in the appendix and that it was easier this way than sending them a PDF.

However, I then noticed that they had been added to the list of authors without my consent and without discussing with me beforehand.

I looked the person up and they have one paper from 2022 as far as I can see and is a PhD student at the same university where the lead author did their PhD, so it has slight vibes that they are helping out a friend who needs a paper. I cannot see anything that this third person is contributing apart from checking some working.

I have emailed my coauthor saying ''I noticed that X has also been added as a coauthor to the paper, could you advise what their contribution will be to the work or is it only to check calculations in the appendix''? Hopefully, they will have some very good reason why this third person is necessary or will improve the article.

Is this the correct thing to do? I don't want to ''stir things up'', but I feel like there is some etiquette that you cannot just add someone as an author to double-check some calculations, especially as there is a risk of sneaking in gift authorship or using the article to help someone out who ''needs papers''.

Edit: They answered and said the person is an expert in the area and will help to explain the physical meaning of the figures, not just calculations in the appendix.

Answer 1

From what you write I'd guess that this is a judgement call and that the lead author is probably in a better position to make the call. It would have been better had they discussed it first, which is a bit of a problem though a separate one than the authorship itself.

I'm depending on your edit here, that the third person will provide more toward the paper than just checking.

I hope you don't come to fight about author order if that could become an issue. But authorship is valuable no matter where you are in the list. You may need to re-think future collaborations if you wind up fighting.

Answer 2

In my opinion, the lead author is not being professional. They do not have the right to include additional co-authors without checking with you. You are right in raising the question.

Having said that, keep the bigger picture in mind - sometimes one has to take such things in stride. Don't need to burn bridges on this matter.

I was forced to cite a number of irrelevant papers in my research papers by my supervisor to grow their H-index. I was not happy about it, but complied with it at that point as I was just finishing.

Academia like any other profession is filled with such acts of cheating which have become norm, unfortunately. For future collaborations with the lead author be careful.

Answer 3

Most often, we think authorship should mean that a person made meaningful contributions to a paper's final version. However, this has many possible definitions. It will always be hard to judge by itself, but if that person finds a possible mistake in your calculations, it can drastically change a reviewer's vision of your paper.

Regarding the correct thing to do, I would say that before starting a project, it is always nice to talk about the expectations of each author in the work and who the corresponding author is. So, these things can be avoided. Authorship might be a touchy subject to some and a breeze to others. If you see yourself working with that person more than once, getting these things out of the way before they become something bigger is always preferable.