I vote b. I find a to be unethical (though sadly on par with academia). C technically would be ethical but if it's good data why leave it out based on the sole motivation of being exclusive rather than inclusive?
Who knows, you might be having a hard time finding the other student because they are a Postdoc or something like that somewhere and their boss does not want them being contacted, or something like that - or otherwise in need of a CV boost to get a better job. Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 19, 2016, at 2:24 PM, Jorge A. Santiago-Blay <[email protected]> > 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, [email protected] , > > Apologies for potential duplicate emails. > > Sincerely, > > Jorge > > Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD > blaypublishers.com > > 1. Positive experiences for authors of papers published in LEB > http://blaypublishers.com/testimonials/ > > 2. Free examples of papers published in LEB: > http://blaypublishers.com/category/previous-issues/. > > 3. Guidelines for Authors and page charges of LEB: > http://blaypublishers.com/archives/ . > > 4. Want to subscribe to LEB? http://blaypublishers.com/subscriptions/ > > > > http://blayjorge.wordpress.com/ > http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/santiagoblay.cfm
