Q: My data and analysis were used unethically without my permission. What should I do?

Detailed Question -

The author sneakily removed my co-authorship in a follow up publication. I wasn't even informed of the submission, even though 50 percent of the data and analysis is mine: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/205145 

This person had done the same thing to me years ago at ASCO. He had removed my name from a presentation I had made. It was my topic of MD.

Thank you for helping to protect ethical research and authorship practice.

 

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

As per the ICMJE’s authorship criteria, authorship should be granted to someone who meets all of the following 4 criteria:

  • Made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; 
  • Contributed to drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 
  • Given final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Since the link that you have sent is a JAMA publication, you should also refer to the authorship criteria for JAMA network publications. Please think thoroughly if you qualify to be an author before reporting the non-inclusion of your name as the co-author.

 

In case you qualify, you will need to write to the journal editor explaining the situation and giving enough evidence (in terms of raw data, previous publication, your masters/PhD thesis published online etc.) that you qualify to be an author on the published paper. The journal editor will contact the corresponding author and conduct an inquiry to evaluate the basis and authenticity of your claim. Based on the outcome of the inquiry, you may be awarded or denied the authorship. You can review the cases for authorship disputes registered in COPE to get an idea of how the evaluation process is done.

 

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