A final year student, and two other researchers in law, all from the same university, undertook research into a recent court judgment on the rules in relation to civil servants making public comments. Based on this research, a manuscript was drafted to be submitted to a double anonymised peer reviewed journal. The manuscript is highly critical of the judgment’s reasoning and impact. All three are named authors on the manuscript, as all three actively engaged in the research and writing.
Just prior to submission of the manuscript, the student was successful in obtaining employment in the civil service. Ironically, the student is now subject to the rules criticised in the manuscript. Breach of the rules can have severe consequences, including dismissal.
The student has approached the civil service and disclosed the authors’ desire to submit the manuscript to the journal. The proposed journal is not based in the country that the authors are from. The draft manuscript was provided to the civil service. In the draft manuscript the student is identified by name and as affiliated with the university. The student’s employment with the civil service is not disclosed in the manuscript and it is expressly stated in the manuscript that the research and writing of the manuscript happened while the student was completing their studies with the university.
Over a series of months, senior managers in the civil service have explicitly denied the student permission to be an author on the manuscript. Based on this communication, it is the strong opinion of the authors that if the manuscript is published with the student as a named author without permission, it is likely that the student will be dismissed.
The authors want to submit the manuscript and contribute to the debate on the extent of civil freedoms in their country. However, they do not wish to jeopardise the student’s employment. They also believe it would be extremely unethical for the manuscript to be submitted without the student acknowledged as an author. A significant part of the manuscript was the student’s research and writing. Also, from the tenor of the communication from the civil service management, the student would be in breach of the rules even if they were not a named author and rather acknowledged and thanked in the article.
Questions for the Forum
- How can the authors still submit the manuscript while minimising exposure to the student? Would editors be comfortable handling such a manuscript?
- Would editors be comfortable handling such a manuscript?
The Forum was told that the other authors and the authors’ institution would like to see this issue resolved and for the paper to be published. The authors are also very keen for the student to have some credit or acknowledgment of their work.
According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors ICMJE guidelines for authorship, all authors agree to be accountable for the work. If the student cannot be accountable for the work because of the potential professional risks to them, do they qualify for authorship? The Forum were told that the student did most of the work on the paper and would like to be an author, and wants the paper to be published.
Do journals have policies for publishing articles anonymously, or policies on what to do if political issues arise? A suggestion was that the article could be published with no author names, and a note added to the paper stating that the identity of the authors is known to the journal but have been omitted to protect the authors. The article could be updated later if the situation changed, and the author’s name could be added. This action would minimise exposure of the student and allow them to receive credit in the future if the situation changes. COPE published a statement on Authorship and politics in 2017 which has advice for journals and publishers.
If the paper is submitted to a journal, the authors should be fully transparent in the cover letter about the situation, and the student involved, so they are known to the journal, even if the journal publishes the article anonymously. The paper could be linked to an editor’s note explaining the situation.
If the paper cannot be published or no journal is willing to publish it, the authors might write an editorial about what has happened with the paper, raising the issues about the civil service in a public forum.