The German Research Foundation’s code of good scientific practice of 2019 says of the authors of a publication: Sie tragen für die Publikation die gemeinsame Verantwortung, they bear joint responsibility for it, unless stated otherwise. Honorary authorship is not allowed. A leading position alone does not make anyone a co-author. The Deutsches Ärzteblatt called the affair around the researchers Herrmann and Brach the largest German forgery affair. Several hundred co-authors were checked. In 2002 the foundation excluded the Freiburg professor Roland Mertelsmann for five years as a reviewer and applicant because of serious flaws, and two other co-authors for two years each. The foundation’s president, Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, told the Ärzteblatt: In der Wissenschaft ist das die Höchststrafe. In science, that is the maximum penalty.