The Sound of Silence

Blogger Isis asks discusses what a researcher's course of action should be if a co-author won't respond to queries asking if a manuscript is ready for submission. She says the advice she most often hears is to include the author and submit the work, but she points out that some journal guidelines expect that each author has read and approved the work. "Seems to me that, based on these types of statements from journals, the appropriate course of action would be to exclude the author from the authors list and acknowledge their work in the body of the work," Isis writes. Janet Stemwedel also jumps in on the discussion and walks through some of the ethical issues, and she adds, "Of course, it's hard to know whether radio silence is best interpreted as assent, dissent, or just unwillingness to be bothered."