Ethical Issues in Scientific Publishing 10-19
Issues in the Cases
Issues in Tony’s Dilemma The pressure to publish starts very early in a scientist’s career. Since a position as first author is especially valuable, most of the competition is for that spot in the author list. Indeed, most faculty recruiters want to know which articles in a bibliography were written by the candidate. Here, Edward is giving Martin the gift of first authorship, perhaps thinking that it is no loss to Tony, who likewise will be listed as first author. Edward has not thought about the messages he is sending his laboratory group, however. To Tony, he has said that first authorship is a gift, not a position you earn. He has sent the same message to Martin. Furthermore, he has diminished the prestige of Tony’s position on the authorship list simply by having him share it with Martin. Tony is now in a difficult position. Martin was added at Edward’s request; Tony does not know whether Martin demanded to be included. So confronting Martin is likely only to create animosity. Getting Edward to change his decision will be difficult because Edward presumably gave his word to Martin. Issues in the Case of the Changing Byline The authors did not agree on authorship up front. One author did not approve the final paper. Authors cannot be taken off the list of co-authors after the article has been submitted without the approval of each, and the corresponding author must write a letter to the journal signed by all co-authors. Bill should have contacted Annette before contacting the journal. As for the shift in order, if Bill is listed as fourth author, his name would not appear on many reference lists. Issues in the Case of the “Borrowed” Review John cannot use Dr. Jones’ findings until they are published, for several reasons: By reviewing the paper, John agreed to treat Dr. Jones’ paper as a confidential document. He cannot contact Dr. Jones directly for permission without violating that agreement. If he contacted the intended publisher of Dr. Jones’ paper in order to secure permission, the journal would not give him permission (they cannot because Dr. Jones still holds the copyright), and furthermore the journal staff might put him on their list of unsuitable reviewers for proposing this breach of review ethics.
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