A case report was submitted for consideration and, following favourable review, was accepted for publication by Journal A. All three authors signed the copyright release form, but about six weeks later a request not to publish the article was received by e-mail, which was attributed to a “misunderstanding and argument between two of the authors.” The editor wrote to all three authors expressing concern, but after six weeks none of them had responded. A further letter was sent advising them that if a response was not received within 10 working days then the head of their respective institutions would be informed. This produced a response from two of the authors who accepted that there had been poor communication and admitted that the paper had been sent, presumably simultaneously, to Journal B, which had also accepted it for publication. One of the authors indicated that they would be willing to withdraw it from Journal B, as they had a preference for Journal A. What should the editor do?
The editor was advised to ask the authors to contact Journal B. The deans of the relevant institutions should be informed and the paper should be rejected.
The paper was rejected. The authors apologised profusely for the misunderstanding, and in view of the fact that one of the authors moved institution, it was decided not to inform the deans.