When the Death of a Colleague Meets Academic Publishing: A Call for Compassion

I had a similar experience this past year. Our beloved research lead died. We had 4 papers in process. The last of them was published this week. With the four different journals - we told them our co-author had died, we asked to put something in the acknowledgements for two of them. No one ever asked us to have anyone sign on her behalf. So it sounds to me like there is a great variation amongst journals. The journal you were dealing with could learn from the ones we worked with. I am sorry for your tough journey - thanks for sharing. And even more sorry for your loss of your colleague. Be well.