title: Scientific author names: errors, corrections, and identity profiles.
abstract: Authorship problems are deep-rooted in the field of science communication. Some of these relate to lack of specific journal instructions. For decades, experts in journal editing and publishing have been exploring the authorship criteria and contributions deserving either co-authorship or acknowledgment. The issue of inconsistencies of listing and abbreviating author names has come to the fore lately. There are reports on the difficulties of figuring out Chinese surnames and given names of South Indians in scholarly articles. However, it seems that problems with correct listing and abbreviating author names are global. This article presents an example of swapping second (father's) name with surname in a 'predatory' journal, where numerous instances of incorrectly identifying and crediting authors passed unnoticed for the journal editors, and no correction has been published. Possible solutions are discussed in relation to identifying author profiles and adjusting editorial policies to the emerging problems. Correcting mistakes with author names post-publication and integrating with the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) platform are among them.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Rheumatology and Research and Development, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, West Midlands, UK.
authors.forename: Armen Yuri
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Gasparyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Biology and Microbiology, South Kazakhstan State Pharmaceutical Academy, Shymkent, Kazakhstan.
authors.forename: Marlen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yessirkepov
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Econometrics, Stavropol State Agrarian University, Stavropol, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Alexey N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Gerasimov
authors.affiliation: Department of Accounting Management, Faculty of Accounting and Finance, Stavropol State Agrarian University, Stavropol, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Elena I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Kostyukova
authors.affiliation: Departments of Rheumatology and Research and Development, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, West Midlands, UK; Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: George D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Kitas
mesh_terms: D001319:Authorship / Q000592:standards*; D035081:Editorial Policies; D006801:Humans; D011643:Publishing; D012586:Science
keywords: author names; authorship; editorial policies; identity; science communication