Something is unclear to me in the original question. What does “has used his pdb for a publication” mean? Somebody used an entry already in the PDB? Somebody used a “.pdb” coordinates file for publication (without “.mtz”)? What was and is the relationship between A and B?
In any case, assuming that A and B are not in talking terms (have you tried through a mediator?), it is the director or designated ombudsperson of the institute of A, that should review the case internally, and officially contact the corresponding person of the institute of B. I can’t see what the journal has to do with it, without a settlement between institutes. I also do not consider a direct contact if A to the director of B appropriate. There should be procedures for these cases. A. Sent from my iPhone On 21 Aug 2019, at 10:12, Mark J van Raaij <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Dear Flemming, As I understand it (I may be wrong), the final responsible institutions are those where the authors work. But as you say, they sometimes don't even reply - or they just may be very slow because they want to be really sure before committing to any answer. But the journal has a responsibility also, to retract the paper if there is a serious suspicion the data were not obtained ethically. Of course, it may be difficult to prove ownership of a pdb file, if both authors claim ownership there is not really a way the journal can decide who is right. In my opinion, the journal should officially contact the institutions where the authors work to try and resolve this. The institutions may take the journal more seriously than a single researcher. A generally respected institution that may advise on authorship disputes is COPE, Committee on Publication Ethics: https://publicationethics.org/ May also take a while though... They have a database with anonymised examples of previously resolved disputes that may be helpful - you may find a similar situation on which they have "ruled". These are of course not legal rulings, but are considered by their members (most respectable journals) as a strong guideline. This case may have similarities: https://publicationethics.org/case/claim-stolen-data-and-demand-retractions Best of luck, Mark Mark J van Raaij Dpto de Estructura de Macromoleculas Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia - CSIC calle Darwin 3 E-28049 Madrid, Spain tel. (+34) 91 585 4616 On 20 Aug 2019, at 17:45, Flemming Goery <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Dear All, A and B belong to 2 different institutes. A claimed B has used his pdb for a publication in Journal C. Journal C did not give the retraction, but permit complain related to the journal publication author issue, with the prerequisite journal C did not have the authority on authorship dispute. Then A has e-mailed to the institute head of B with academic misconduct by B as claim, the institute head of B did not give reply. In this situation, can A have the journal authorship dispute settled by a neutral reviewer (Journal C view: you (A) need to reach out to the institutions that have authority to adjudicate on such matters, as investigation and adjudication on authorship claims falls outside the remit of journal editors. )? Who are qualified as the neutral reviewer so that the review decision can be submitted to Journal C? If you believe you are qualified, or you know somebody or some organization qualified, please let me know and I will introduce the issue to you by separate e-mail (it is best not disseminated, am I right?) Best regards. Flemming ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1
