[Rd] authorship and citation

[Uwe Ligges]

Simply advice:

The former co-author contributed, so he is still author and probably 
copyright holder and has to be listed among the authors, otherwise it 
would be a CRAN policy violation since even if he does not develop 
further on, he developed parts of the so far existing package (if you 
talk about a CRAN package).

I am not a lawyer, hence I cannot speak for copyright/license stuff in 
general, hence my comments only about CRAN policies.


Best,
Uwe Ligges


On 05.10.2015 23:02, Adrian Dușa wrote:
> Dear R developers,
>
> This is a rather peculiar question, but nevertheless I would still need an
> answer for.
> It is about an R package which I created (namely QCA), and from versions
> 1.0-0 to 1.1-4 I had a co-author.
> The co-author recently withdrawn from the package development, but still
> requires to be left in the authors list and be cited for the package in the
> CITATION file.
>
> Obviously, one could not require citations for further developments, but
> don't know how exactly to proceed (I would like to be fair and comply to
> rules).
>
> I have three options:
>
> 1. Since the co-author withdrawn from the package development, erase his
> name from the list of authors (but duly recognising his past contribution
> in the package description file)
>
> 2. Preserve his name in the list of authors (with the comment "up to
> version 1.1-4"), but erasing his name from the citation file
>
> 3. Keep his name both in the authors list and in the citation file
> indefinitely, even though he doesn't do any development work anymore (I
> have been threatened with a legal process for plagiarism if I did
> otherwise).
>
> My gut feeling is, since his name is related to the previous versions,
> anyone using those versions would cite him as well, but otherwise I don't
> feel comfortable citing my former co-author for the current work he hasn't
> contributed to.
>
> At this point, I would really use an advice, as on the other hand I
> wouldn't want to break any regulation I might not be aware of.
>
> Best wishes,
> Adrian
>
>