Data in a Press Release

Author(s): Caroline Whitbeck, Ph.D.

In your scientific institution investigators have access to unpublished results of others. Recently you discovered that your colleague, Dr. Known, issued a press release that included key portions of your unpublished data, both primary and compiled. Cy Writer used the information in the press release in an article he wrote about exciting new work. The article was published in a widely read scientific publication. Dr. Known and his lab were credited, but the article does not mention you.

You are concerned both about the failure to credit you for the significant contribution that you made and that when you go to publish your findings in a few months, the journal to which you submit may regard Cy Writer's article as a prior publication of your findings.

What do you do and how do you go about it?