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I am doing research on identity status. The scale which I intend to use was developed in 1995. I have attempted every possible way to reach out to the corresponding author, but haven't received any response yet. I have messaged all the email addresses of the author, the author's university as well and colleagues. Are there any alternatives to such situations where the scale dates back further in time and the consent cannot be obtained from the author directly, such as taking permission from the Journal where the original paper on the scale was published?

Rabab Saeed
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    Why would you need consent to use a scale? What exactly is it? (software, content in a paper, etc) – Dr. Snoopy Oct 07 '23 at 11:36
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    In a psychological quantitative research survey, standardized scales/questionnaires/inventories are usually used. As per ethical rules, consent needs to be obtained from the author who developed the scale in the first place, before using their scale in research. – Rabab Saeed Oct 08 '23 at 08:15

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Is there any license or instructions for use of the scale included in the original publication? If the scale has been validated and used by others, there should be some information floating around. I suppose you could try looking up other authors and contacting them. I doubt the journal would have more up-to-date contact info, but you could ask there as well. I would not risk using the scale without explicit permission from the copyright holder though.

A word of warning... this makes me think of the debacle surrounding the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS). The owner/original author of that particular scale retroactively tracked people down and demanded retraction or payment for licensing (no comment on the ethics of that). If you're interested you can read about it on retraction watch.

I bring this (admittedly extreme and unlikely) example up to say that you should be absolutely sure you have the proper permission to use a scale - the original MMAS paper, which was recently retracted for other reasons, was published in the 1980's. That fact that the scale was old did not protect anyone. One of the authors of a paper that used the MMAS scale couldn't get in contact with/never heard back from Morisky and went ahead using the scale anyway. It turned into a mess and the paper was retracted years later. If you can't get that explicit permission, consider using a more accessible tool.

sErISaNo
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