Nazish Masud  ( College of Medicine Research Unit, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia )
Afaf Moukaddem  ( College of Medicine Research Unit, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia )

Madam, we thank you for sending us the comments on our letter.
As there is always another side of the picture, this response brings to our notice that other side. The issue of ghost authorship no matter whether it is involving a student or a senior author is both unacceptable and unethical. The most important determinant of authorship is substantial contribution and that should be the ultimate guide for including or excluding any author. However, it is still a fact that students being un-experienced need help from a senior person for completion of their projects. In cases when students are able to finish their research without the help of the assigned PI highlights the fact that there might be another senior person who helped them during their study and this person might also deserve authorship according to his contribution in the overall project.