This article is transferred from: Science Network, compiled: Bu Jinting
Recently, a paper posted on the preprint website arXiv caused outrage, and several co-authors demanded that their names be removed. The reason behind this is not the content of the preprint paper, but its author, Geoffrey W. Marcy, the third of the 16 authors.
Marcy, 68, was a renowned astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley. He is recognized as a "planet hunter" in the world, and he has participated in the discovery of 70 of the first 100 extrasolar planets discovered by mankind. He is also a key member of a multi-team project called Kepler Giant Planet Search (KGPS), which collected the data used in the aforementioned paper.
However, Marcy is also the first member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to be removed from the list since its founding 158 years ago.
Science's website reported May 16 that Marcy's name would not appear on the manuscript when a journal published by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) was resubmitted.
The evil act of sexual harassment overwhelmed his scientific contributions
In 2015, a large number of investigation details from the University of California, Berkeley, were published online, confirming that Marcy had sexually harassed her, including kissing and touching students. Marcy then resigned from the school's teaching position. In 2021, NAS disqualified Marcy as an academician due to "misconduct".
In fact, after 2015, Marcy has published dozens of papers. But this time was different: after an outcry, he removed himself from the list of authors and agreed not to write any more papers with the group.
This latest preprint paper cites 13 years of KGPS data, some of which was collected by Marcy. A co-author, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Science: "There is no doubt that Marcy did contribute to the early days of the project. ”
Some believe that Marcy's sexual harassment should trump any scientific contribution. Mia de los Reyes, an astrophysics fellow at Stanford University, said, "According to an investigation by the Office of Title IX (Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendment of 1972), he was actually found guilty, which almost never happens in academia." In this extremely clear situation, I would be very disappointed if the astronomy community could not do the right thing. ”
Graduate students who contributed to the KGPS project but were not listed as authors also expressed disappointment. Because the paper used the data they collected, it effectively means that their "hard work and dedication" fueled the "H-index of serial sexual harassers." One student wrote on his social account: "I spent 18.3 hours staying up late collecting data, but I unknowingly helped him. ”
The protests prompted some researchers who signed the preprint to reflect. Given Marcy's contribution, some see his authorship as a matter of historical record. But after posting online, an anonymous author interviewed by Science commented: "This creates a tolerance for behavior that obviously should not be tolerated." ”
So the author and at least three others contacted the paper's first author, KGPS principal investigator Lauren Weiss, an astronomer at the University of Notre Dame and a former doctoral student at Marcy. They asked that their names be removed from the group's manuscript submitted to the AAS journal. After getting in touch with the editor, Weiss decided to withdraw the manuscript.
In an emailed response to Science, Weiss confirmed that Marcy's name would not appear on the manuscript when it was resubmitted. "His early substantive contribution to the project will be clarified in acknowledgements," she wrote. I am also revisiting the list of authors with a view to sending out author invitations more broadly. ”
However, the matter is not over
Andrew Howard, the project's other chief program executive, is an astronomer at Caltech and a former postdoc at Marcy. He said Marcy will not co-author any papers published by the group in the future, and the team will not condone any individual's sexual harassment or abuse.
Marcy did not answer specific questions, but replied to Howard by email: "I retired 8 years ago and have been living a peaceful life with my wife of 29 years. ”
However, the matter is not over. Many astronomers say the incident has sparked discussion about what to do in the future if faced with a similar situation.
"If our professional association has a policy that does not allow people who violate our code of conduct to become paper writers, then, this is very useful." Courtney Dressing, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, said, "This will reduce the decision-making burden on individual research groups." ”
A similar controversy emerged in 2021. At that time, the same research team published a series of papers with Marcy as the author. Some of the co-authors are "green peppers" in the early stages of research, which effectively means they have to choose whether to get the honor of sticking to the bottom line or co-sign with a sexual harasser.
"Associating my name with him is not good for my career." Cayla Dedrick, a doctoral student in astronomy at Pennsylvania State University, said, "A lot of people in the astronomy community, especially women, are survivors of sexual assault and harassment themselves, so seeing their name next to him and seeing his name is a huge hurt to a lot of people." ”
Many had hoped that the events of 2021 would prevent Marcy's name from appearing in future papers. "I don't know how we're going to be in this situation again, but I hope the latest controversy will spark change." A professor involved in the KGPS project said anonymously.
There is still a long way to go
Ethan Vishniac, editor-in-chief of AAS, said he doesn't have much power to ban authors from publishing in journals he oversees. "We ban authors only when society asks us to do so on grounds that they have nothing to do with a particular publishing issue," he said. ”
Meanwhile, AAS Dean Kelsey Johnson confirmed that the society's ethics working group is currently considering whether to classify "sexual harassment and all forms of harassment, discrimination and bullying as 'research misconduct.'"
Researchers interviewed by Science generally supported the change. They said it would be a challenge to set an absolute rule because the severity of cases would vary. And when university findings aren't made public, other institutions will have to decide what to do.
According to Bruce Macintosh, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz and director of the UC Observatory, "Researchers can handle the problem on their own without the action of the various institutions." In his view, any actions taken by individuals to undermine the project should be weighed against their contributions when making authorial decisions. He added that cooperative groups can clarify their policies by developing authorship guidelines that clearly state what happens if a team member has a violation.
Eight years ago, when Marcy's misconduct came to light, Macintosh said, "I think this is the beginning of an astronomical awakening, but we still have a long way to go." ”
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