Ethical question re: authorship

[futureapppsy2]

A manuscript of ours recently was accepted pending revision. Yay! The only hitch, though, is that we (the research team) has lost contact with some of the authors, as the funding for the project ended and they moved on, retired, etc. We either don't have active emails or other ways of contacting them or they've been completely non-responsive to repeated attempts to contact them about revisions to the manuscript, etc. I know that once the manuscript is accepted unconditionally (knock on wood!), we'll need a signed copyright waiver from all authors. I'd feel really crappy about taking them off the manuscript, as they all helped substantially with the project--though not so much the actual manuscript writing--but if the time comes, and we can't get in touch with them despite our best efforts, what do we do?

Thanks.

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[Marissa4usa]

I obviously haven't been in the situation, but I'd say try everything reasonable that is in your power to get in touch with them and make sure to keep a record of your attempts (i.e. sent emails, emails sent to others and their responses, etc.). I think once you've done that it's up to them to make sure that their contact information is up-to-date and they have to deal with the consequences of not handling that appropriately.

 

[deadmau5]

have you tried calling? emails are one thing but calling and leaving a message might get them to respond more quickly... if they've retired/left, the department usually does keep contact info (though you could also try personal colleagues of the person).

 

[MCParent]

Why would you take them off the paper?? I've known of cases where a professor has had a paper moved into publication posthumously and they kept him on, so I assume that means they can be a little flexible on the signatures. Excluding on author based on inability to contact seems super unethical to me.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

I obviously haven't been in the situation, but I'd say try everything reasonable that is in your power to get in touch with them and make sure to keep a record of your attempts (i.e. sent emails, emails sent to others and their responses, etc.). I think once you've done that it's up to them to make sure that their contact information is up-to-date and they have to deal with the consequences of not handling that appropriately.

This. If they will not return your calls, emails, heck even snail mail, or have moved or whatever, then remove them and they will have to accept their loss of authorship for not remaining in contact. That seems like the ethical and right thing to do here.

 

[futureapppsy2]

Why would you take them off the paper?? I've known of cases where a professor has had a paper moved into publication posthumously and they kept him on, so I assume that means they can be a little flexible on the signatures. Excluding on author based on inability to contact seems super unethical to me.

None of us *want* to take them off. Like you said, it's feels ethically sketchy and unfair. However, I think journals may be more willing to waive a deceased professor's signature than a living coauthor's--people are fairly unlikely to rise from the grave and start haggling over copyright and all.

We have phone contact info for one and FB contact info for two, so we'll try those, but I'm not sure if he have any contact info for the third, as he was a temp employee. I'll ask the research team and hope someone can come up with something for him.

 

[researchgirl]

One option is to see if the journal will let them stay on without their signatures. In my experiences some journals are VERY lax about this, and others are very strict.

The other option I would take is to leave a message in any way possible (e.g. a voicemail AND a FB message/email) and state clearly "We want to allow you to remain a co-author. However, if we do not receive your signature by October 15, 2013, we will have to move forward and you will no longer be listed as co author." -- unfortunatley, that is the best you can do.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

One option is to see if the journal will let them stay on without their signatures. In my experiences some journals are VERY lax about this, and others are very strict.

The other option I would take is to leave a message in any way possible (e.g. a voicemail AND a FB message/email) and state clearly "We want to allow you to remain a co-author. However, if we do not receive your signature by October 15, 2013, we will have to move forward and you will no longer be listed as co author." -- unfortunatley, that is the best you can do.

+1

It's tough to think of moving the paper forward without them as authors, but if the alternative is not to publish it at all, then I don't know that you have a choice. Alternatively, if the journal won't let you get away with not having the signatures and you haven't been able to get in touch with them, maybe consider listing them in an acknowledgments section?

 

[futureapppsy2]

Just an update, in case anyone is curious: we weren't able to get in touch with all of the missing authors, but the editor and publisher agreed to let the first author sign for everyone, letting everyone retain authorship.

 

[deadmau5]

Nice to know, just as a last resort I guess.
I'm sure it happens more often than we think.