Reference no: EM133394724

Dr. Hanz recently submitted an article to a top Biomedical journal, but now wants to make a late correction to the article, adding more authors. A few weeks before he had enthusiastically sent copies of the manuscript author' proof to the directors of two other labs where he had worked. That morning however, Dr. Hanz received a stern letter from the director of the second lab facility informing him that the two lab directors should be added onto the manuscript for reading the authors proofs. Dr. Hanz now fears that he erred seriously in not listing both lab directors, despite having had almost no role in designing the project and none in writing the paper. He is worried that any future collaboration depends on adding their name to the paper and if this could impact his tenure review in the coming years.

The journal's policy is that authors take responsibility for assigning authorship, yet Dr. Hanz acknowledges that his attribution will be false. He has also cited the paper elsewhere as his alone in another manuscript in press. Practically, the entire articles will have to be reset lo add more names and their affiliations, adding potentially significant expense and delay to its publication.

Should Dr. Hanz add the additional names to the front page? What ethical ramifications are there to adding them? How may this impact their careers? What precedent would either decision set in their career?