“Forever” is overrated….
Posted on April 22nd, 2024
One of our class activities in the GCSRT course at Harvard Medical School (HMS) was a role play on asserting Authorship. The activity taught us why authorship matters and who is to be considered an author in scientific publications (including the order of appearance of authors’ names) based on the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines.
It reminded me of my 12 year battle for an Erratum on my paper’s publication at the Philippine Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (PJOG). Without permission from any of the authors, the journal editors in 2012 decided to switch the order of authors’ names, removing me as the primary author. I’ve emailed the editors of the publication repeatedly and my request fell on deaf ears.
Finally, after 12 long years, my request for an Erratum was heard and acted upon swiftly under the journal’s current Editor-in-Chief, the very adept Dr. Jean Anne B. Toral. Under her leadership, the PJOG now has a more “professional” tone, and they already have an authorship contribution undertaking prior to publication.
Twelve (12) years was a long wait… but this is one case where “long” is better than “forever”!
