Hi Cliff and all, You are right that the Code quoted is quite clear. I would only say that while legalistically there is no ambiguity, the situation nevertheless remains ethically ambiguous. I don't know the right answer in the case Jorge has lined out, although I personally would go with his option b, as I argued earlier. In my view and with my limited knowledge of the situation, that route seems the most ethical thing to do, regardless of what the one-size-fits all ESA code of ethics says. The purpose of the Code is to provide the ground-rules used by the editorial structure of the society to police its journals, which is perfectly legitimate and necessary. But a black-and-white statute can only tell you what is "legal" for this society's journals, it cannot decide for us as individuals what is ethical in any given case. I am not saying that leaving off the author would be unethical and Jorge should "stand up to the system" or something -- it may turn out to be the most ethical solution in Jorge's judgment. The point I'm flopping around trying to make is that a "rule" cannot decide what is ethical, only the responsible individual human faced with the dilemma can decide -- and sometimes what is deemed most ethical for a given set of circumstances may not coincide with the relevant rule in a Code of Ethics.
--Tom -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Cliff Duke Sent: Monday, August 22, 2016 8:15 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Query on authorship Concerning the recent "query on authorship," there is no ethical ambiguity. The ESA Code of Ethics is quite clear on that point: "Researchers will not add or delete authors from a manuscript submitted for publication without consent of those authors. Researchers will not include as coauthor(s) any individual who has not agreed to the content of the final version of the manuscript." If you can't locate the person who contributed, that person can consent to the manuscript. Just note their contribution in the acknowledgements section of the paper.
