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href="/resources">Resources</a> <a href="/cases">Cases</a></p> </div> <div class="hero__title"> <a id="main-content"></a> <h1 id="page-title">Author deceased prior to submission</h1> </div> <div class="hero__bottom"> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="page-main"> <div class="page-main__row"> <div class="page-main__col"> <main> <section id="content" class="region region-content"> <div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system clearfix"> <div class="content"> <div class="node-case node node-case view-mode-full "> <div class="node-case__left node-case__fields"> <div class="field field--short"> <div class="field-label">Case number:</div> <div class="field-item">24-22</div> </div> </div> <div class="node-case__body"> <div class="sidebar sidebar--offset"> <div class="sidebar__body"> <div class="node-case__fields"> <div class="field field-name-field-anonymised-text-of-the-ca field-type-text-long field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Case text (Anonymised): </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the <a href="https://publicationethics.org/copeforum">COPE Forum</a> where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance.</em></p> <p>One of the publisher's journals has received a paper which lists a coauthor who died in 2022. The paper was incomplete at the time of his death but he and the corresponding author had planned to publish it together.</p> <p>The journal's submission guidelines state that "each coauthor of this article is directly aware that this submission is being made in their name." The corresponding author is aware of this and has approached the publisher to explain the situation. They have also agreed to delay posting the paper on ArXiv until after the review process is completed just in case the list of authors must change.</p> <p><em>Questions for Council</em><br /> 1. Can the deceased author still be listed as coauthor, as the living author requests?聽</p> <p>2. Does this depend on how substantial the changes made to the paper were since the author died before it was published online?聽</p> <p>3. Are there other criteria to consider?<br /> 聽</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-advice field-type-text-long field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Advice: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>It is possible to list a deceased coauthor, using a footnote to explain that they died prior to publication, and giving the date of death. The corresponding author will need to declare the contribution of the deceased author to make it clear that they qualify for authorship (for example, using the <a href="https://credit.niso.org/">CRediT system</a>), either just for review purposes, or for publication. The journal could consider including this scenario and any provisos on qualification for authorship in their author guidelines. The journal will also need to seek agreement (along with any conflict of interest statements or copyright permissions needed) from the deceased author's estate/next of kin in order to satisfy the requirement that all authors are aware the submission is being made.</p> <p>However, as raised in Question 2, the extent of the changes made following the coauthor鈥檚 death is an important issue. The "version to be published" should not be a significant departure from the version the deceased co-author saw and participated in, or the question of whether the deceased co-author would have approved the published version or supported its conclusion would remain an open question. What exactly constitutes "significant" is subjective, but as in this case, caution should be exercised when a period of several years have elapsed since the author's death, and when the article had not been submitted prior to death. It may be worth asking whether the co-author can evidence any sort of authorship agreement outlining the expected arrangement and contributions.<br /> If the paper has undergone significant revision, the contributions of the deceased author, as described by the corresponding author, may not amount to authorship, and certainly the criterion of future accountability (as included in <a href="https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html">ICMJE</a> and other guidelines) cannot be fulfilled by a deceased author. If the journal has any reservations about designating the deceased individual as an author, the simplest approach would be to move the deceased author to the Acknowledgements. 聽This may also be a good way for the author to convey their respect and appreciation of their colleague in a situation where it is impossible to be sure that they would have endorsed the conclusions of the published work. It also avoids the authors having to undergo the process of explaining how exactly the deceased author complied with the authorship criteria as described above. A detailed acknowledgments note would also serve the purpose of crediting the contribution to the work in case secondary compensatory benefits (such as patents) are involved.<br /> 聽</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-resolution field-type-list-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Resolution: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">On-going</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Year: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4478">2024</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--classifications field--short"><div class="field-label">Core practices:</div><div class="item-list"><ul><li class="first last"><a href="/authorship" title="View all "Authorship and contributorship" content">Authorship and contributorship</a></li> </ul></div></div> </div> <aside class="sidebar__aside"> <div class="sidebar__aside__col"> <div class="sidebar__aside__inner"> <div class="contextual-links-region"><h3>COPE Forum</h3><div class="entity entity-bean bean-editable"> <div > <div class="field field-name-field-block-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>COPE Members:<br /> do you have a publication ethics case and need help with next steps?<br /> <a href="https://publicationethics.org/copeforum">Submit your case</a></p> <p>Registration is now open for the 9 December Forum where new cases are discussed. 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