Q: Is it possible to remove a co-author from a published article?
My problem is that my supervisor forced me to add another professor as a co-author (in the fifth rank) to my article, while he didn't contribute in any way from near or far. Now that the article is published, and my supervisor will no longer be my supervisor, I'm asking if it is possible to remove that professor from the article.
The removal or addition of an author after publication requires the submission of a corrigendum by all the authors. The corrigendum has to be in line with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
As per COPE requirements, the corrigendum should explain in detail why the author was included in the first place, and it must contain signatures of all the authors declaring that they agree with the removal of the author. Since both your supervisor and the other professor need to sign on the corrigendum, I don't think it'll be possible for you to remove the other author from the author list without first discussing the issue with both of them and with the other co-authors as well.
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This content belongs to the Conducting Research Stage