[Histonet] Query on authorship

[Rene J Buesa]

Jorge:The first thing is to be absolutely sure the data is worth publishing and that the results have scientific relevance.If this is the case and both you and the other contributor agree I think the data should be published.In no way you should eliminate the data obtained by the other individual you have been unable to locate because that will weaken the results. If what the two students did was obtaining data it is fair to add the name of the one accepting to be considered as co-author, but ONLY if s/he takes part of data processing and the conclusions.As to the other student you have been unable to locate I do NOT think you should make him/her as co-author because just obtaining raw data does not amount to that, nor it will be fair to the one you will include as co-author if co-authorship includes processing/analyzing the data.The fairest thing to do is to mention the other student in the acknowledgements very clearly pointing out his/her actual participation.This is how I would solve this issue. On the other hand I have never consider as "co-author" of any of my papers any person whose only task was gathering information or following a field protocol to obtain data or make experiments.René 

    On Friday, August 19, 2016 3:50 PM, Jorge A. Santiago-Blay via Histonet <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu> wrote:
 

 Query on authorship

Dear Colleagues:

I am writing a small paper resulting from research done with two
undergraduates many years ago (and, later on, involving several other
colleagues using cutting-edge technology). As the results became obvious,
both of the students agreed (orally, in person) with me that we should get
the research published. As far as I remember, there was no email or letter
documenting that and, there was no manuscript, only the data and the
methods we were using.

The problem: I have located one of the former students (now a researcher at
a major research institution), who is excited about getting the research
published, but not the second student.

Question: How to handle the contribution (including authorship) of the
other person? Here are some options I see.

a. *Omit the name of the person that has not been located* and indicate
that another person was involved in the data collection but we were hot
able to locate him/her to get his/her approval to use his/her name as an
author.  Under these circumstances, would it be OK to name the person in
the Acknowledgments? Lately, I am asking permission to do that because
sometimes some people prefer to remain anonymous.

b. *Include the name of the person I cannot locate as an author*, an act of
fairness and good faith on my part. If the person does not like the idea
(and the paper is published) retract the name of the person in an erratum,
later on, and assume responsibility for my error. A kind colleague did that
to me once and, subsequently, it has resulted a long standing collaboration
(and co-authorship in many papers, with my knowledge) :)

c. *Nor use the data garnered by the person I cannot locate*. Although I am
pretty sure I am authorized by the institution to use the data, as a
general personal; preference, I like to ask permission.

If you have something constructive to comment, kindly direct your comments
to me, blayjorge at gmail.com ,

Apologies for potential cross-posting.

Sincerely,

Jorge

Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD
blaypublishers.com

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