Accounting Researchers’ Beliefs About Debatable Research and Authorship Practices, with Advice and Anecdotes from the Field

Many research and authorship practices are debatable or poorly understood. Our purpose was to capture the attitudes and understandings of accounting researchers, especially for discussion in doctoral seminars, and to advance the discussion of research ethics throughout the academic community. We sent email requests to all US and Canadian authors who had published in any of twelve leading accounting research journals during the past twelve years, asking their opinions of the appropriateness of a variety of research and authorship practices about which there appears to be confusion or debate among accounting academicians (as well as in other disciplines). We also asked for exemplars of research integrity (good or bad) that participants have witnessed or participated in. The results shed light on the contemporary attitudes and perceptions of a diverse sample of 375 accounting researchers, concerning research and authorship practices that are currently under debate