Author Finds Another's Name on an Elsevier Book Chapter She Wrote(retractionwatch.com) |
Author Finds Another's Name on an Elsevier Book Chapter She Wrote(retractionwatch.com) |
“Several chapter authors declined to revise their chapter for the second edition of the book and these chapters were reviewed, and in some cases updated by the volume editor. An error in the production process resulted in the original author names being replaced by the volume editor. This was a production error and not the responsibility of the volume editor and these errors are in the process of being corrected.”
doesn’t look unlikely to me, so to me, This looks like a genuine error, assuming the agreement the authors signed up for allows for such modifications (not unlikely, given that publishers want to keep all options open for themselves and can spread out the costs of good lawyers over many contracts)
What remains, though, is
“Should we scientists now hire legal representation from our own pocket every time we want to publish to make sure our rights will not be trampled on?” she said.”
The answer to that, is “If you sign a legally binding contract, you should read it and search for clarification if you aren’t sure you understand what you’re signing up for”. In practice, that means the answer unfortunately is “yes”.
In contrast, I once found my Ph.D. thesis cited on a Wikipedia page, but with another author's name on it! This was easier to correct, the "edit" button is your friend. But it makes you wonder how many errors are on Wikipedia that have so far gone undetected.