We understand that, in a court settlement of the Helga Refsum case (June 2006), it was recorded that the University of Bergen believes that when there is not full trust between co-authors it is not necessary for one co-author to transfer raw data for an article to the other co-authors so that the latter authors can work freely on the data.
We furthermore understand that, when this issue was raised by three of our colleagues in a letter to the University of Bergen’s web news page, the University of Bergen prevented publication of their letter and also threatened to sue our colleagues for libel. In addition, the University not only declined to publish our colleague’s letter but placed an article on their web site in which the University answered the allegations in the letter.
We, the undersigned, wish to re-iterate our belief in the fundamental principles of the practice of science that
1. There should be no compromise on the custom and practice that raw data in relation to a publication arising out of a joint project should be freely available in an appropriate format to every co-author to analyse independently.
2. It should be an intrinsic part of any University to be open for criticism and debate without censorship or threat of legal action.
Professor Ruma Banerjee, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Professor John T. Brosnan, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Professor Margaret E. Brosnan, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Professor Merrill F. Elias, University of Maine, USA
Professor Charles H. Halsted, University of California, Davis, USA
Professor Robin Jacoby, University of Oxford, UK
Professor Viktor Kozich, Charles University 1st Faculty of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic
Professor Rowena Matthews, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA