- CaseCase Closed
Conflicting authorship in a collaboration
…Researcher Y‘s concerns go beyond the prerogatives of the journal. The issue relates to a long and complex disputed authorship issue into a collaboration (which started before the publication of the article). The journal believes it is not legitimate to try to resolve the frictions and different opinions between the members of the collaboration, which are no longer about the scientific publication. This is… - Case
Dispute over authorship and usage of research protocol
The Forum was told by the editor that the case has since been resolved. The paper has been published with the amended author list—Professor X’s name was removed. The Forum suggested tightening up the journal’s authorship and contributorship criteria and also copying all authors on all correspondence rather than just the corresponding author to avoid the occurrence of a similar case in the… - Case
An authorship dispute and a question about when a paper is considered published
…claimed that he should have been listed as the first author. Author C expressed his annoyance at being excluded from the authorship of the paper by contacting the Vice-Chancellors of the universities of authors A and B. Author C claimed that Authors A and B had passed off his work as their own. Editor E invited all authors A, B and C to contact him and to provide him with any information they… - CaseOn-going
Late introduction of an omitted author after online publishing
The corresponding author as well as the co-authors admit that they have omitted one author (author X) who was responsible for a major part of the work in their study. Author X insists on having full acknowledgment in the authorship line and would not be satisfied with an erratum. What should I do? Please advise also about whether author X will appear in different citation… - CaseOn-going
Authorship dispute and possible unreported protocol amendment
…journal taking the right steps?• Is there any further action required?• If the current authors amend the manuscript and authorship appropriately in light of any discrepancies found, we intend to accept the paper. Is this ok?• In the above situation what is our obligation with respect to informing the authors’ institutions?… - Case
Scientist reads published paper by former collaborators and claims co-authorship
…intention. The editor should ask the institution to investigate the case. If the institution does not respond, the editor has a duty to alert readers to the situation and so he should publish an expression of concern or notice of disputed authorship. Other advice was to ensure that the journal’s instructions to authors make clear the criteria for authorship and contributorship. Another suggestion was to… - CaseCase Closed
The role of the lead author
…rationale for making further content changes and hence intends to resolve the situation himself by suggesting to any authors who do not agree with him that they are removed from the authorship list and acknowledged for any key contributions (as appropriate). Question(s) for the COPE Forum • Is the suggested handling by the lead author appropriate? Are there are other solutions… - Case
The missing author
Authorship should have been resolved before. The authority needs to hold an inquiry. The true facts or a retraction should be published.… - Case
Submission without knowledge of the corresponding author
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 signatu… - CaseCase Closed
Authorship order in dual publications
A group of experts from two different learned societies produced a consensus of guidelines on the management of a condition. Both societies wished to publish the manuscript in the respective journals of their societies. However, they requested the authorship order be different on the two respective submissions. Questions for COPE Council Is it feasible to… - Case
The fraudulent letter
A journal published a letter from a student only to discover that it was not written by him. The editor has written to him and his dean apologising, and the journal is publishing a piece saying that the letter was not written by the student. It seems most likely that the piece was written by one of his fellow students. Should we encourage the dean to hold a full investigation? … Letters t… - Case
Yet more attempted duplicate publication
A study submitted to a journal was sent out for external review. The reviewer pointed out that it was essentially a shorter version of a paper already published elsewhere. The authors had referenced this paper, but did not make clear that the submitted paper was simply a summary of the other published paper. Nor did they mention the other paper in the covering letter, or include a copy of it. O… - CaseCase Closed
New claim to authorship of published paper
…input to the work. Author X said that the correct authorship should be X and A in that order. Author X provided as evidence an internal document submitted to and accepted by the university authorities in May 2010 in fulfilment of a requirement to demonstrate capability for research. His academic record confirms that this submission was successful. He then changed supervisor (and department)… - CaseCase Closed
Victim of article theft wants correction to list their name, not retraction
…solution? If so, should we correct the article metadata too? • Is there any precedent for such a total correction of authorship? • How might we detect and prevent the publication of stolen articles? They do not show up on Crossref Similarity Check because they are unpublished. … - CaseCase Closed
Conflict between two authors
…to respond to several questions, including: whether he had contributed to the manuscript in accordance with COPE authorship criteria? Was there a written agreement with the lead investigator and other authors to include him as a coauthor of the article for the support he provided: Was he listed, at some point, as an author of the manuscript, and then removed without his knowledge? The author… - CaseCase Closed
Disputed change in authorship
Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the COPE Forum where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance. It seems the journal changed the authorship of an… - CaseOn-going
Authorship issue related to misleading action of one author
…with the fallout from this and the funding agency. She asked if she should withdraw the manuscript? Or if not, should the second author be listed as an author? As editor, I am reluctant to have the second author remain on the manuscript, especially given the fact that he may have done less on the manuscript than he originally said and may not even qualify for authorship according to the ICMJE… - CaseCase Closed
Misattributed authorship and unauthorized use of data
…reached a consensus regarding authorship, we intend to correct the record and remove author B and author C from the author’s list. The director was asked if he could provide some other proof of his allegations besides the forwarded email correspondence between himself and author A. He did not provide any other proof and demanded that the article be removed at once and that author A's institution… - Case
The discontented and abandoned contributor
A paper was rejected after peer review. Some time later a researcher wrote to say that he had been involved at the beginning of the study, but had withdrawn his name because he felt the study was defective. He had heard that the study had been submitted for publication, and thought it better that the editors were made aware of his doubts before publication rather than afterwards. As the paper h… - Case
The disappearing authors
Some time after a single authored research article was published a journal received a letter pointing out that the same article had been rejected by another journal because of unresolved authorship and acknowledgement issues. At that time the paper had 12 authors. The correspondent said that the single author had a patent application related to the topic of the paper. This was declared as…