Brazilian has name excluded from article in Science magazine – 01/30/2023 – Science

For any Brazilian researcher, publishing a work in the journal Science –one of the most prestigious academic journals in the world– is a difficult dream to realize, even more so when presenting a hitherto unsuspected fourth membrane surrounding the brain. For Santos biologist Anna Xavier, however, it turned into a nightmare.

The paper appeared in Science on Jan. 6, but does not include Xavier among the 12 authors. After a long dispute with Maiken Nedergaard, head of the laboratory where she has been a researcher since 2016, at the Center for Translational Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen, her name ended up being excluded.

The study began in 2017, when the Brazilian was sent to the University of Helsinki to assimilate laboratory techniques and collect samples related to lymphatic vessels in the brain. Discrepancies between hypotheses and experiments gave rise to the idea that there could be a fourth membrane surrounding the brain, in addition to the three known ones (dura mater, arachnoid and pia mater).

Xavier, 40, tells that he spent more than two years on tests to determine and characterize the existence of a mesothelial membrane in the nervous system, comparable to the peritoneum that covers the abdomen. He worked closely with Kjeld Mollgard, a former Dean of the University of Copenhagen twice his age.

The study was initially submitted to Nature, a competitor to Science. It ended up being rejected based on objections and criticisms raised by expert reviewers. Nedergaard then suggested further tests to determine layer function.

“They were very strenuous experiments,” the postdoctoral student told Sheet. “With the post-pandemic pressure, in March 2021 I developed symptoms of stress and got two weeks sick leave.”

On her return, the boss’s pressure increased, and the biologist took another three months off. The deal was that he would work from home on return. Other researchers in the group were responsible for the tests, including another Brazilian, Leo Myiakoshi, from the same center in Copenhagen.

In October, Xavier became pregnant, and in January 2022, he obtained maternity leave. At that time there were already discussions about who should be included in the list of authors and in what order (the first name is by convention the main one). Xavier advocated that only she and Mollgard shared primacy.

In March, the Brazilian learned that the article had been submitted to Science without mentioning her. He took the case to the union and social networks. She says that she was then offered to share the first authorship with three more researchers (including Myiakoshi), totaling five names, which she refused because she considered that the file would not give adequate credit to her and the former dean’s most outstanding contribution.

The dispute reached a kind of ombudsman at the university, who held meetings trying to reach an agreement. According to Xavier, Nedergard began to demand a series of proofs that it had in fact produced data and analyzes that three years earlier had substantiated the finding.

As the Brazilian refused to sign as first author in the company of four others, the article appeared in Science without her name. She decided to make the case public, and on the 20th, the publication Forskeforum published a report by Lasse Hojsgaard on the episode (another report was published in the university bulletin).

“My opinion is that she [Xavier] to have been completely excluded from the article is absurd,” he told Sheet Myiakoshi, one of three names included as first authors. “However, I think that Anna could have been more understanding and flexible, to the point of accepting to share the co-authorship with other people.”

Xavier is making a formal grievance report to the university’s scientific practices committee. In consultation with lawyers, she was informed that these processes can extend for up to two years, but she says she is going ahead, even if a first authorship is no longer useful to her.

After the traumatic experience, the biologist with a doctorate from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) gave up academic science, where the first authorship of articles weighs heavily on the curriculum. He accepts to do research in companies, or to work with education and scientific communication, but he doesn’t want to know about universities anymore.

Your contract with the University of Copenhagen and the associated visa expire in April. She will then have six months to find another job and, in the meantime, intends to obtain permission to remain in the country for family reasons (she is the mother of Danish Marvin, who is ten months old).

“The last two years have been exhausting,” he complains. She considers that the case will contribute to advance the movement of young researchers in Denmark against the authoritarianism of supervisors, which is already motivating debates in Parliament on how to speed up processes similar to hers.

“Now there is a window of opportunity for these things to change and not be recurring.”

OTHER SIDE

The head of the laboratory alleges that there was an anonymous vote and that only one person supported the list defended by the Brazilian (Myiakoshi informed that he had voted in favor). Ten others would have voted for the relationship that Nedergaard considers the fairest. The Brazilian would have refused to sign the publication license of Science.

“No data from Anna was used. Authorship was offered to her because she was part of the initial study, but she did not accept that ten other young investigators generated data that made it possible to publish the article.”

Nedergaard claims that the pressure felt by Xavier came from the Brazilian herself, not from anyone in the group. He says he only asked for help locating data and materials, things that could be resolved in short phone calls.

“Anna has been away for nearly two years. Ask her why she hasn’t filed a report [à universidade]. She was treated as a respected member of the group, and no one supports her grievances.”