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 The co-author recently withdrawn from the package development, but still requires to be left in the authors list and be cited for the package in the CITATION file.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 Since the co-author withdrawn from the package development, erase his name from the list of authors (but duly recognising his past contribution in the package description file) 2.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 -- Adrian Dusa University of Bucharest Romanian Social Data Archive Soseaua Panduri nr.90 050663 Bucharest sector 5 Romania [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
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 Du?a 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 The co-author recently withdrawn from the package development, but still 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 > >
As a fourth option, I wonder if the first author could fork the package? Presumably, appropriately cited, a fork is permitted by the license under which it was released. Then the original package, by both authors, still exists (and a final version could point to the new one) and the new package, citing the previous version appropriately, is by a single author. The page of CRAN's policies doesn't seem to touch on forking, presumably because it's out of scope. Best wishes, Andrew On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 8:22 AM, Uwe Ligges <ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de> wrote:> 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 Du?a 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 >> >> >> > ______________________________________________ > R-devel at r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel >-- Andrew Robinson Deputy Director, CEBRA, School of Biosciences Reader & Associate Professor in Applied Statistics Tel: (+61) 0403 138 955 School of Mathematics and Statistics Fax: +61-3-8344 4599 University of Melbourne, VIC 3010 Australia Email: a.robinson at ms.unimelb.edu.au Website: http://www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/~andrewpr MSME: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439858028 FAwR: http://www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/~andrewpr/FAwR/ SPuR: http://www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/spuRs/ [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 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 ...It's a bit of a philosophical question right now, but at some point in a developing package's life - particularly one that starts small but is subsequently refactored in growth - there may be no code left that was contributed by the original developer. Is there a point at which the original developer should not stay on the author list? S Ellison ******************************************************************* This email and any attachments are confidential. Any use, copying or disclosure other than by the intended recipient is unauthorised. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately via +44(0)20 8943 7000 or notify postmaster at lgcgroup.com and delete this message and any copies from your computer and network. LGC Limited. Registered in England 2991879. Registered office: Queens Road, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0LY, UK