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Case 11a :

The Case of "Long Vocation" —Misconduct in Peer-Review?

Dong sat back in his chair and thought for a while before penning the following message,

"Dear Editor, thank you for sending me this piece to review. I noted that the due date for review is May 25th. Unfortunately, I will be away for a family holiday over this period. I am pleased to review this piece, but request an additional month for review. Cordially yours, Dong Nguyen".

Having sent the message, Dong picked up his mobile and called Phuong, hurriedly reporting,

"Phuong, come back to the office, we have a problem. Someone is trying to scoop us. We have to finish the data analysis and write up on the viral transmission paper this weekend".

When Phuong returned to the office, Dong explained that there was a group in the Netherlands working on the same topic who had already submitted a paper to Infection that Dong was asked to review.

The two researchers worked steadily over the weekend and into the mid-week, taking only brief breaks to teach and sleep. One week after Dong had received the review request, the two sat at the computer, composing the parts for an on-line submission of their paper to Immunity and Infectious Disease, a competitor journal to Infection. After submitting the piece, the two researchers walked, at a tired pace, out of the office.

Phuong asked tiredly,

"Dong, will you still review the piece for Infection?"

Dong replied, with a tone of confidence,

"Sure. I have four weeks to review the piece. Remember, I told the editor I was on vacation so we could have more time to work on our piece and get it out. We will have a few reviews of ours before I get that review done. IID is faster than Infection. That group in Holland will have to cite us in their piece. And, we will get the first credit for the finding".

• What has Dong done here that could be considered wrong?
• What is Phuong's responsibility here?
• How might the publication of their piece affect the other authors in the Netherlands?
• What might the effects of their actions be on their field of research?
• What risks and rewards might Dong and Phuong reap for these actions?