![]() We have seen people in dispute over issues of access, sharing, management, and analysis of data the use and sharing of biological materials and even the scope and direction of the research project. ![]() While scientists most often bring authorship disputes to our office, there is a wide range of issues on which collaboration can falter. But scientific collaborations, like other important relationships, take some forethought and some ongoing work to succeed. People often assume that since they share an interest in the same research area and have complementary skills and areas of expertise, things will just work out. Although we are often able to help people resolve such disputes, we are struck by how many could have been avoided if only the collaborators had taken a few precautionary steps at the outset. In the Office of the Ombudsman, we hear many stories like the one above. ![]() It is painful and somewhat paradoxical to see collaborating scientists neglect such planning and foresight when the scientists devote so much of their intellectual and other energies and resources, often over many years, to make the collaboration successful. In the worst situations, not only does the research project suffer, but investigators also wind up leveling accusations against one another, sometimes through formal, adversarial mechanisms. Conflicts over authorship and a host of other issues also erupt among collaborating scientists who are peers. "Misunderstandings" like this are not limited to mentors and their postdocs or doctoral students. It appears that while she was working on the project she assumed she would be the lead author, but she never did confirm that assumption with her advisor. Her contribution was acknowledged in a footnote. Integrity in Scientific Research Videosīy Howard Gadlin, NIH Ombudsman, and Kevin Jessar, NIH Associate OmbudsmanĪ recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled "When a Mentor Becomes a Thief" describes a doctoral student who, after working on a project for seven years, found what she thought was her discovery published under the name of her advisor.
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