How Does My Work Become Our Work? Dilution of Authorship in Scientific Papers, and the Need for the Academy to Obey Copyright Law

Professors enjoy a world of extensive institutional autonomy and individual academic freedom. Universities and courts defer to a professor’s judgment for “genuinely academic decisions” unless they depart from academic norms. Universities, courts, and professional societies should intervene, however, when academic norms and custom do not comport with the law.