Publication, especially publication in refereed journals, is the major indicator of research accomplishment. The author of a journal article receives, and deserves, credit within the status systems of scholarship. Despite the importance of authorship in the assignment of professional rewards (recognition, professional advancement, etc.), or perhaps because of it, guidelines concerning authorship are not terribly clear. In the case of papers with multiple authors, either the inclusion of some names or the order of authorship may be a matter of considerable debate and concern. I am convinced that errors of omission and commission are common. The problem is one of ethics but not alone of ethics. It is also a problem of the security or quality control over the processes of scientific and other scholarly writing.