The ever-expanding number of history programmes on television ought to mean boom time for historians. Yet a growing number of authors and academics believe they are being unfairly cut out of the process.

The Society of Authors says it has seen a rise in complaints from members about their work being used in TV shows without credit or payment.

The complaints range from being left out of a programme’s credits after handing over weeks of research to cases where entire books have been used as the basis for shows, according to Nicola Solomon, chief executive of the society. “It is a perennial problem, but there is a rise in complaints,” she told the Observer. “Our members really feel they should be asked and remunerated for their time.”

Lyndsy Spence, a historian who specialises in biographies of aristocratic women, says the makers of Channel 4’s Secret History: Churchill’s Secret Affair, which aired last year, asked for her help after discovering her book The Mistress of Mayfair. The biography of 1920s socialite Doris Delevingne – great aunt of the model and actor Cara Delevingne – includes passages about her affair with Winston Churchill.

“The researcher emailed me, saying the producer was reading my book and could I answer a few queries,” Spence said. Her book was under option to another production company, but she felt her research would be used whether or not she was involved, so decided to help after being offered a “special thanks” in the credits. She answered emails, provided contacts, verified letters and sourced photographs and archives. “The documentary aired and sure enough, there was my research,” Spence said. “I was the first person to write Doris Delevingne’s biography, so it was not a coincidence. There was no credit. I asked why, and he said, oh it must have been an oversight.”

Spence said she had spent “several hundred pounds” accessing archives for her book. “Our source notes act as a treasure map for these producers. It’s so frustrating.”

Richard Sanders, the show’s producer, acknowledged that Spence had done some research for the film and he said she had received an apology. “I’m sorry to say that the credit slipped through the cracks,” Sanders said. But he emphasised that the film’s core revelation - that Churchill had an affair in the 1930s - was based on the work of the two highly-regarded Churchill scholars who presented it - Professor Richard Toye and Dr Warren Dockter.

Spence’s experience is far from unique. Two years ago, Hallie Rubenhold complained that ITV had used her book, The Covent Garden Ladies, as inspiration for Harlots, the drama about the sex trade in Georgian London. She has since been credited as the series inspiration, and her complaints galvanised the Society of Authors, who had been looking at the issue, to draw up guidelines, with Pact, the body that represents independent TV producers.

Hannah Greig, a lecturer in early modern history at the University of York, who advised producers of The Favourite and Poldark, said on Twitter earlier this month that there should be a “second round table”, and the society said it was looking again at the issue.

Other authors, such as Miranda Carter, a novelist and biographer of the spy Anthony Blunt, said there had been accusations of plagiarism against presenters. “A friend was paid as series consultant on a three-part history series of her book, only for the presenter to ‘write’ a book totally plagiarising the original to ‘accompany the series’,” she tweeted.

Nigel Hetherington, an archaeologist who founded Past Preservers, a consultancy that represents 1,200 academics and expert contributors to TV shows, said he did not let people work for free, even if producers said they had no budget. “Talking heads should get £100 to £1,000 as a day fee,” he said. “The cameraman, the sound person, they’re not doing it for free.”

But he said “90% of programmes” were not looking to get something for nothing. “I’ve never met a producer, even the bad ones, who set out to deceive someone,” Hetherington said, adding that contributors were under pressure from universities to make their work more accessible.

The growth in author complaints may be related to an increasing appetite for solid documentaries rather than reality TV. “There has been a sea change,” Hetherington said, due to the amounts of money spent by Netflix and Amazon on original programming. “Over the past two years, history and archaeology have become very popular.

• This article was amended on 19 February 2019 to clarify details about Secret History: Churchill’s Secret Affair.