You Decide

 


Does ARS discriminate against science technicians


... or does ARS have a legitimate reason for excluding agency scientists who lack a Ph.D. from being listed as co-authors, even when journal guidelines require that the technicians receive authorship credit...



My experiences with ARS when the agency denied authorship credit to my tech


  1. -I believe that technicians, especially those with a Master’s Degree, are scientists in their own right, and are fully capable of meeting all criteria for co-authorship


  1. -I challenged my supervisor when he denied co-authorship credit to my techs


  1. -I requested a meeting to address my supervisor’s objections to tech co-authorship (09/24/2009)


  1. -My supervisor tried to force my agreement with his tech-authorship policies (09/25/2009)


  1. -My supervisor retaliated against me  (11/12/2009)


  1. -I requested co-authorship for my tech according to ARS regulations (11/10/2009)


  1. -My supervisor retaliated against me for my support of tech authorship (11/12/2009)


  1. -I responded to my supervisor’s harassment by justifying tech authorship (11/13/2009)


  1. -I contacted an ARS administrator to clarify tech authorship policies (12/04/2009)


  1. -My supervisor bullied my tech so that she would decline co-authorship (12/04/2009)


  1. -I responded to my supervisor’s harassment and cc’ed ARS administrative personnel (12/05/2009)


  1. -My technician declined co-authorship, despite qualifying as an author (12/07/2009)


  1. -The ARS administrator replied without ruling on the actual disagreement (12/08/2009)


  1. -My supervisor retaliated against me again (12/15/2009)


  1. -The ARS administrator re-sent generic authorship information we’d already received (12/18/2009)


  1. -My supervisor retaliated against me again (01/05/2010)


  1. -My supervisor retaliated against me again (01/15/2010)


  1. -My supervisor retaliated against me again (02/03/2010)


  1. -ARS uses salary level, not scientific qualifications as a basis for authorship (06/15/2010)


  1. -ARS retaliated against me and I lost my job (08/19/2010)



ARS Authorship Policies


Changes in ARS authorship rules occurred after I lost my job in August 2010. I’d like to think that ARS edited its policies to more closely follow journal requirements (and U.S. laws) in response to complaints filed against the agency.


Did the ARS’s policy changes ensure co-authorship for eligible technicians?


From my point of view,

ARS did not correct their authorship policies, but they did react in the following way:


  1. 1) Kill the messenger

     (I alerted the agency to unethical ARS authorship practices, and I lost my job.)


  1. 2) Issue more EEO statements

     (All ARS manuscripts submitted for publication are now required to Include an EEO statement)


  1. 3) Transfer authority for approval of authorship

     (This “corrective action” does not actually stop unethical practices, but it does shift the blame)



ARS Policies and Procedures Manual #152.1, (Publishing Manuscripts)


Old  Manual (March 10, 1998)

New Manual (October 18, 2010)


ARS Policies and Procedures Manual #152.2, (Authorship)


Old  Manual (May 12, 1997)

New Manual (May 5, 2011)

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Authorship Debacle