Acknowledgments through the prism of the ICMJE and ChatGPT

Abstract

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines are widely employed as an set of ethical standards for biomedical journals, and thus for biomedical researchers. In this paper, we revisit the topic of acknowledgements in academic papers, noting that the former serve as a lesser form of recognition relative to authorship. We note the possible existence of bias, such as a power imbalance due to a status imbalance, as well as the risk of “ghost” acknowledgements. To further ground our ideas, we turned to ChatGPT-4 for input, noting some curious and informative supplementary findings. Curiously, ChatGPT-4 offered a set of recommendations and guidance, comparable to those of the ICMJE.

Keywords

• accountability
• bias
• ethics
• conflicts of interest
• editorial responsibility
• peer review
• post-publication peer review
• quality control
• transparency