Resumen de Hidden influencers and the scholarly enterprise: A cross-cultural/linguistic study of acknowledgements in medicalresearch articles

Françoise Salager Meyer, María Ángeles Alcaraz Ariza, Maryelis Pabón

• The frequency and length of acknowledgments (ACK), the number of named andunnamed acknowledgees, the number of grants received and the sources of fundingare here analyzed in medical research articles published in four different geographicalcontexts: Venezuela, Spain, France and the USA. Significant differences were foundin all the variables between the US sample, on the one hand, and the two Spanish-and the French-medium samples, on the other. We conclude that the concept ofintellectual indebtedness differs from one geographical context to another, and thatsub-author collaboration is not only discipline-dependent but also language- andcontext-dependent.