ABSTRACT
Years ago, when Doc was a junior faculty member she became aware of a situation that changed her life. An extremely well-known
senior scientist in her department took the data of a graduate student and published it in a very significant, oft-cited paper
without crediting the student in any way. That this action had the tacit approval of the department chair was confusing. Dismayed
by this violation of trust and feeling powerless to intervene, she decided to become the Dear Abby of Science. Working in
the lab during the day she was becoming a world-renowned researcher as well as a highly revered mentor to younger scientists.
At night, disguised as Dr. Doc she began advising other researchers who were looking for help with their sticky situations.
As word of mouth spread about Doc more and more researchers sought out her advice about a wide range of problems in their
labs and in their collaborations. She is currently entertaining a proposal from a collaborative group of editors from high-impact
journals to develop a web presence that would offer insightful advice to struggling scientific collaborators around the world.
The following is a selection of letters from Doc’s files focused on collaboration. The names and details in the letters have
been changed to protect confidentiality.
senior scientist in her department took the data of a graduate student and published it in a very significant, oft-cited paper
without crediting the student in any way. That this action had the tacit approval of the department chair was confusing. Dismayed
by this violation of trust and feeling powerless to intervene, she decided to become the Dear Abby of Science. Working in
the lab during the day she was becoming a world-renowned researcher as well as a highly revered mentor to younger scientists.
At night, disguised as Dr. Doc she began advising other researchers who were looking for help with their sticky situations.
As word of mouth spread about Doc more and more researchers sought out her advice about a wide range of problems in their
labs and in their collaborations. She is currently entertaining a proposal from a collaborative group of editors from high-impact
journals to develop a web presence that would offer insightful advice to struggling scientific collaborators around the world.
The following is a selection of letters from Doc’s files focused on collaboration. The names and details in the letters have
been changed to protect confidentiality.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Essay/Opinion Piece
- Pages 1-9
- DOI 10.1007/s13142-012-0156-1
- Authors
- Howard Gadlin, Center for Cooperative Resolution, OD, NIH, 31 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Michelle Bennett, Division of Intramural Research, NHLBI, NIH, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Journal Translational Behavioral Medicine
- Online ISSN 1613-9860
- Print ISSN 1869-6716