Subjects‘ right to privacy

How to protect a subject's identity? In this figure, executed with a dash of humor, the anonymity of both subjects has been protected by the traditional black band across the eyes.

Nevertheless, a few weeks later, in Letters to the Editor, a reader told us that despite the bar across the animal's eyes, he had immediately recognized it as one he had seen in Melbourne Zoo and suggested that authors should take greater care to preserve anonymity when presenting ape data (Millar 1982).

This observation tells us that a black band across the eyes may be insufficient to disguise the subject. So, in cases like this, informed consent should be obtained, as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (1995). The woman in the figure had given such consent. Simkin's figure also tells us that authors need not always be deadly serious in their reporting. Rather, humor can help to convey the message.

Duplicate submission

One of my course participants asked:

Yes, that would be the end! A unanimous jury would give you nothing less than a life sentence for self-plagiarism, as happened to an author who had submitted the same manuscript to two journals in the USA. All American journals publishing in that field agreed never again to consider any manuscript from that scientist's laboratory (Abelson 1982).