A case report was received and the corresponding author was duly notified. The corresponding (and senior author) immediately faxed back, asking who had submitted the case report as he had not been consulted and had not seen the manuscript.The submission letter contained the names of all four authors; three of the signatures had been made using the same pen and probably the same hand.The signature of the senior and corresponding author was clearly “pp”. The editor responded, pointing out the misconduct and received a prompt written response from the senior author agreeing that this was not the way to proceed. The senior author did not feel that the matter should be taken further other than through a formal letter from the editor to the author who had misdemeaned. What should the editor do?
The editor was advised to contact all the authors for an explanation.
The editor and the senior author wrote a disciplinary letter to the offending author, but no sanctions were applied.