Tim, On 09/25/2012 09:51 AM, Tim Gruene wrote:
I would assume that someone who publishes crystallisation conditions has given up solving the structure or some other reason to encourage others to pick up the project
there could be several situations when this is not so. Sometimes a crystallization report and preliminary structure may be needed for another publication. Also, current NIH rules disallow proposal updates other than reference to an accepted manuscript, and so this may be a way to get information to reviewers. It may also be a gambit to dissuade your competition, although that may backfire if such competition already has the structure done and was simply procrastinating.
With that said, I personally see no ethical issue here other than one absolutely must acknowledge the existence of published crystallization report.
Cheers, Ed.
