Several years ago (around 2021), while I was still a student, I did substantial work on a research project. I wrote the code the whole analysis ran on, I prepared and cleaned the datasets, and I produced the figures that ended up in the final paper. When it was published, I was not listed as an author.

I did raise it at the time. I was told I couldn't be added because I wasn't affiliated with a university - I had just finished my degree. I was young, I'd just started a job, and I accepted that reason and moved on, I was so naive and didn't even search it on Google or ask on reddit just accepted what I was told.

Only recently (today actually 31st Aug 2026) did I properly understand that the reason I was given isn't valid: authorship is based on contribution, not on whether you happen to be attached to an institution at the moment. And when I finally read the published contributor statement closely, I realized the specific work I did is formally credited to two of the other authors. So it's not just that I'm missing - my actual contributions are attributed to other people.

I'm not going in empty-handed. I have version-controlled code with a commit history from that period, and emails from the time in which I shared the work with the group. So I can show what I did and roughly when.

I've now raised this with the full author group. A senior author's response was that they can't add me to an old paper, but that they could retract it instead.

That's the worst possible outcome for me - retraction erases the paper entirely and credits no one, so I'd end up with my work deleted and still uncredited. What I actually want is a correction that adds me and fixes the contributor statement, not a deletion.

There's also a wrinkle: the committee that would review this internally is at the same institution where the work was done and where one of the senior authors is on staff, so I'm not confident that process is neutral.

For anyone who's navigated something like this, I'd really value your experience:

How do you push for a correction / corrigendum that adds an omitted author, rather than a retraction?

If not all the authors will agree to it, what actually works from there?

How much weight does an internal committee at the authors' own institution carry - and can you take it to the journal/publisher independently of that?

Anything you wish you'd done differently in your own case?

I'm trying to handle this professionally and without attacking anyone personally. I just want my contribution recognized. Any advice appreciated.

\*Used AI to brush up wordings.

Hello guys im starting a narratove review project, but i got one query.

When we are reading a review, do we cite the review or the original source from where the review wrote it from

Chatgpt and Claude tell me that I should cite original discoveries but for well established facts like " smoking causes lung cancer" I should just cite the review i got it from

I joined as a postdoc researcher 4 months back. It took me some time to understand the proposal I was given to work on, I've joined someone else's project. Now they want me to finish systematic literature review asap. They wanted a draft ready by August. I wasn't aware of it so now they have asked me to finish it by October (the first draft). Right now I'm screening title/ abstract. I'll push through and finish it but how long do people usually take to finish slr?

Looking for tips to work efficiently.

Thanks!