Affiliation on a paper written mostly in previous position

Question

If research was done and paper was mostly written at institute A, but then it finally got accepted while the author moved to institute B, say, 3 years later. Should the affiliation of the author be

Only Institute A: because 95% of the support was from here, and work was done here
Both Institute A and B: in some sense, both institutes supported the work
Only Institute B: this is where the author is affiliated at the moment

related: Changing affiliation on publication

Peter Jansson · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-13T08:21:32.763

13

There are no fixed rules but I would opt for your option (2). The affiliation is intended to aid in facilitating contact with the author but is of course useful to a department to show count the paper as a product from that institute. By listing your former address first indicating that that is where you did most of the work and then adding the second as present address provides the best and useful information for all parts. Option (1) means your present location is not disclosed which is a missed opportunity to locate you. Option (3) has the disadvantage that your former department are not associated with the work you performed there. So although all are acceptable, (2) would be the best (most polite and useful) way in your situation.

edited Feb 13 '14 at 08:21

answered Feb 12 '14 at 19:56

Peter Jansson

73,217
12
206
344

Is there any actual examples of using option (2)? – Thomas Lee Feb 21 '15 at 16:27
I am also curious to see examples of option (2), where the dual-affiliation refers to one previous and one current institution rather than two current institutions. I usually see authors choose option (3) at the expense of their previous employer. (In Scandinavia, as an example, universities typically receive government funding per research article, so the expense of not listing one's former institution can be very real, indeed.) – Oct 12 '15 at 08:02

WetlabStudent · Answer 2 · 2016-04-09T22:38:45.890

1

Firstly, some journals have specific rules about what counts as an affiliation. So if the journal has such rules you should follow them. These rules are variable, and I have seen all three of the options included. In my opinion, affiliation should match your current contact information and, on top of that, match any affiliation where you conducted the research, if possible. Note this means options (2) is best. If the journal has a rule precluding option (2), be sure to thank any institution you don't put as an affiliation in the acknowledgment section. All universities deserve credit for what they contributed. That said, in my experience the majority of people in this situation (not a huge sample size), use the affiliation that either matches their current contact information or their contact information from when they submitted the paper. However, this doesn't mean it is what they should do.

edited Apr 09 '16 at 22:38

answered Feb 12 '14 at 19:50

WetlabStudent

10,674
5
42
61

4

I fully disagree! This might result in a major uproar since the funding and research opportunities were given by A. – OBu Feb 12 '14 at 20:06
4

It's one thing to down vote; it's another thing to vote to delete. Strongly disagreeing with an answer is not grounds for deleting it. – WetlabStudent Feb 12 '14 at 20:46
1

This is a good answer. – Bjørn Kjos-Hanssen Feb 13 '14 at 03:29
2

Your current institution is the one you should have most allegiance to. – Bjørn Kjos-Hanssen Feb 13 '14 at 03:34
2

Just let me clarify I did not vote to delete the answer, it is valid, but I disagree ;). – OBu Feb 15 '14 at 15:26
I think my previous version of this answer was being misinterpreted [mostly my fault]. I was recommending option 2, but was noting that option 3 is very common and that if you do go that route you should, at least, thank the old institution in the acknowledgements. – WetlabStudent Apr 09 '16 at 22:45
@OBu I don't think we disagree, please see the edited answer that more accurately reflects my views. – WetlabStudent Apr 09 '16 at 22:49
the current version is much clearer now and I changed my vote. – OBu Apr 12 '16 at 08:15

Affiliation on a paper written mostly in previous position

2 Answers2

Linked

Related